Compensation and Self-Reliance

Probably no writer has so profoundly influenced American philosophy and literature as did Emerson. Known as The Father of Transcendentalism he was the focal point of a small group of intellectuals reacting against the orthodoxy of the established religions of his era. As an active lecturer in the early 1830s he delivered a number of landmark lectures most notably among them - Compensation and Self-Reliance in which Emerson fervently declares mans inherent divinity. By positing that the way to realization lay solely within man can be fulfilled only through ones own self-induced and self-devised efforts. Marked by a deep compassion and insight Compensation and Self-Reliance rings like a clarion-call - one Emerson intoned steadily throughout his life. Though his last years were marked by a decline in his mental powers his reputation as one of the outstanding figures of American letters was all but assured by the time of his death. RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) was an American poet and essayist. Universally known as the Sage of Concord Emerson established himself as a leading spokesman of transcendentalism and as a major figure in American literature. His additional works include a series of lectures published as Representative Men (1850) The Conduct of Life (1860) and Society and Solitude (1870).