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Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson A PENN STATE ELECTRONIC CLASSICS SERIES PUBLICATION Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a publication of the Pennsylvania State University. This Por- table Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University nor Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State University assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an electronic transmission, in any way. Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18201-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2001 The Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Contents I. HISTORY .................................................................................................................................................................. 5 SELF-RELIANCE ...................................................................................................................................................... 26 II. SELF-RELIANCE................................................................................................................................................. 26 COMPENSATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 50 III. COMPENSATION............................................................................................................................................... 51 SPIRITUAL LAWS .................................................................................................................................................... 70 IV SPIRITUAL LAWS............................................................................................................................................... 70 LOVE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 89 V. LOVE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 89 FRIENDSHIP ............................................................................................................................................................. 101 VI. FRIENDSHIP ..................................................................................................................................................... 101 PRUDENCE ............................................................................................................................................................... 115 VII. PRUDENCE ...................................................................................................................................................... 115 HEROISM ................................................................................................................................................................. 126 VIII. HEROISM ....................................................................................................................................................... 127 THE OVER-SOUL ................................................................................................................................................... 137 IX. THE OVER-SOUL ............................................................................................................................................ 138 CIRCLES .................................................................................................................................................................. 154 X. CIRCLES.............................................................................................................................................................. 154 INTELLECT ............................................................................................................................................................. 166 XI. INTELLECT ...................................................................................................................................................... 166 ART ............................................................................................................................................................................ 178 THE POET ................................................................................................................................................................ 189 XIII. THE POET ...................................................................................................................................................... 189 EXPERIENCE .......................................................................................................................................................... 211 XIV. EXPERIENCE ................................................................................................................................................. 211 CHARACTER .......................................................................................................................................................... 233 XV. CHARACTER ................................................................................................................................................... 234 MANNERS ................................................................................................................................................................ 248 XVI. MANNERS....................................................................................................................................................... 249 GIFTS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 269 XVII. GIFTS ............................................................................................................................................................. 269 NATURE.................................................................................................................................................................... 273 XVIII. NATURE ....................................................................................................................................................... 273 POLITICS ................................................................................................................................................................. 288 XIX. POLITICS ........................................................................................................................................................ 289 NOMINALIST AND REALIST .............................................................................................................................. 301 XX. NONIMALIST AND REALIST ...................................................................................................................... 301 NEW ENGLAND REFORMERS ........................................................................................................................... 315 NEW ENGLAND REFORMERS ........................................................................................................................... 315 Emerson Essays I. HISTORY here is one mind common to all individual men. by Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the Tsame. He that is once admitted to the right of rea- son is made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato Ralph Waldo Emerson has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has befallen any man, he can un- HISTORY derstand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and There is no great and no small sovereign agent. To the Soul that maketh all: Of the works of this mind history is the record. Its ge- And where it cometh, all things are nius is illustrated by the entire series of days. Man is And it cometh everywhere. explicable by nothing less than all his history. Without hurry, without rest, the human spirit goes forth from the I am owner of the sphere, beginning to embody every faculty, every thought, every Of the seven stars and the solar year, emotion, which belongs to it, in appropriate events. But Of Caesar’s hand, and Plato’s brain, the thought is always prior to the fact; all the facts of Of Lord Christ’s heart, and Shakspeare’s strain. history preexist in the mind as laws. Each law in turn is made by circumstances predominant, and the limits of nature give power to but one at a time. A man is the 5 Essays whole encyclopaedia of facts. The creation of a thousand revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind, and forests is in one acorn, and Egypt, Greece, Rome, Gaul, when the same thought occurs to another man, it is the Britain, America, lie folded already in the first man. Ep- key to that era. Every reform was once a private opinion, och after epoch, camp, kingdom,
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