• Arts
• Business
• Computers
• Games
• Health
• Home
• Kids and Teens
• News
• Recreation
• Reference
• Regional
• Science
• Shopping
• Society
• Sports

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson - Free Online Library Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Most of his ancestors were clergymen, as was his father. He was educated in Boston and Harvard, also like his father, and graduated in 1821. While at Harvard, he began keeping a journal, which became a source of his later lectures, essays, and books. In 1825 he began to study at the Harvard Divinity School, and the next year he was licensed to preach by the Middlesex Association of Ministers. In 1829 Emerson married the seventeen-year-old Ellen Louisa Tucker, who died in 1831 from tuberculosis. Emerson's first and only settlement was at the important Second Unitarian Church of Boston, where he became sole pastor in 1830. Three years later he had a crisis of faith, finding that he "was not interested" in the rite of Communion. He once remarked that if his teachers had been aware of his true thoughts, they would not have allowed him to become a minister. Eventually Emerson's controversial views caused his resignation. However, he never ceased to be both teacher and preacher, although without the support of any concrete idea of God.

Contact Information