The Portable Emerson
by Ralph Waldo Emerson 
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"A comprehensive collection of writings by "the most influential writer of the nineteenth century" (Harold Bloom) Ralph Waldo Emerson's diverse body of work has done more than perhaps any other thinker to shape and define the American mind. Literary giants including Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman were among Emerson's admirers and proteges, while his central text, Nature, singlehandedly engendered an entire spiritual and intellectual movement in transcendentalism. show more This long-awaited update-the first in more than thirty years-presents the core of Emerson's writings, including Nature and The American Scholar, along with revelatory journal entries, letters, poetry, and a sermon"-- show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Like probably lot of people, I read an Emerson essay for a high school English class many years ago. I liked it, and actually went out and bought this collection, but I never read much of it, and it sat lonely on the shelf for decades, until just recently I decided to open it up again. Although I did like what I read in high school, I had little understanding of just how good Emerson's work really is. Reading his essays now, I understand why he has endured. He was insightful, but lots of people are. What elevates Emerson into another realm is his beautiful, moving prose style. Sometimes I have to stop reading after just one or two paragraphs, or even just one or two sentences, to absorb the beauty and freshness of his writing. So glad I show more lived long enough to discover Emerson a second time. show less
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Philip Ward's Lifetime Reading Plan
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Author Information
802+ Works 21,138 Members
Known primarily as the leader of the philosophical movement transcendentalism, which stresses the ties of humans to nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and essayist, was born in Boston in 1803. From a long line of religious leaders, Emerson became the minister of the Second Church (Unitarian) in 1829. He left the church in 1832 because of show more profound differences in interpretation and doubts about church doctrine. He visited England and met with British writers and philosophers. It was during this first excursion abroad that Emerson formulated his ideas for Self-Reliance. He returned to the United States in 1833 and settled in Concord, Massachusetts. He began lecturing in Boston. His first book, Nature (1836), published anonymously, detailed his belief and has come to be regarded as his most significant original work on the essence of his philosophy of transcendentalism. The first volume of Essays (1841) contained some of Emerson's most popular works, including the renowned Self-Reliance. Emerson befriended and influenced a number of American authors including Henry David Thoreau. It was Emerson's practice of keeping a journal that inspired Thoreau to do the same and set the stage for Thoreau's experiences at Walden Pond. Emerson married twice (his first wife Ellen died in 1831 of tuberculosis) and had four children (two boys and two girls) with his second wife, Lydia. His first born, Waldo, died at age six. Emerson died in Concord on April 27, 1882 at the age of 78 due to pneumonia and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Ralph Waldo Emerson has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
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Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Portable Emerson
- Original title
- The Portable Emerson
- Alternate titles
- Portable Emerson
- Original publication date
- 1946
- People/Characters
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Important places
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA; Massachusetts, USA
- Important events
- Transcendentalism; Romanticism; 19th century
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- This edition of The Portable Emerson is the original edition, edited by Mark Van Doren. Please do not combine this edition with the new edition (1981), which was edited by Carl Bode with Malcolm Cowley.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 259
- Popularity
- 124,444
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 14
