"Sunshine was he, In the winter day;
And in the midsummer, Coolness and shade."
U.S. poet, essayist, and lecturer. Born
in Boston, he graduated from Harvard and was ordained a Unitarian
minister in 1829. His questioning of traditional doctrine led
him to resign the ministry three years later. He formulated his
philosophy in Nature 1836); the book helped initiate New England
Transcendentalism, a movement of which he soon became the leading
exponent. In 1834 he moved to Concord, Mass., the home of his
friend H. D. Thoreau. His lectures on the proper role of the scholar
and the waning of the Christian tradition caused considerable
controversy. In 1840, with M. Fuller, he helped launch The Dial,
a journal that provided an outlet for Transcendentalist ideas.
He became internationally famous with his Essays (1841, 1844),
including "Self-Reliance." Representative Men (1850)
consists of biographies of historical figures. The Conduct of
Life (1860), his most mature work, reveals a developed humanism
and a full awareness of human limitations. His Poems (1847) and
May-Day (1867) established his reputation as a major poet.
View his family web card.
Introduction | |
Surnames | |
Interesting Ancestors & Relatives | |
Family Web Cards/Starting Card | |
Index | |
Sources |