The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

American essayist lecturer poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement Ralph Waldo Emerson was a champion of individualism and major critic of the prevailing society of his time. Emerson forwarded his ideology by publishing dozens of essays and giving over 1500 lectures in the United States during his lifetime. Emersons philosophy did not espouse any specific tenets but rather promoted generally the principles of individuality freedom the ability for humankind to realize almost anything and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Gathered together in this volume is a comprehensive selection of his writings which includes the following: Nature The American Scholar An Address Delivered Before Divinity College The Transcendentalist The Lords Supper Essays (First and Second Series) Plato Napoleon English Traits Selections from The Conduct of Life Solitude and Society Farming Ezra Ripley Emancipation in the British West Indies The Fugitive Slave Law John Brown The Emancipation Proclamation Thoreau Abraham Lincoln Carlyle and a selection of his poetry.