Emerson by John Morley (1903)

Name: Emerson
Author: John Morley

The book is a biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist and philosopher. It covers his life from childhood to old age, focusing on his intellectual development and literary career. The biography explores Emerson's relationships with notable figures of the time, including Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller.

By John Morley · First published 1903 · Genre: Biography, Philosophy, Literary Criticism · 3 chapters · 15,582 words

First lines

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born at Boston, May 25, 1803. He was of an ancient and honourable English stock, who had transplanted themselves, on one side from Cheshire and Bedfordshire, and on the other from Durham and York, a hundred and seventy years before. For seven or eight generations in a direct and unbroken line his forefathers had been preachers and divines, not without eminence in the Puritan tradition of New England. His second name came into the family with Rebecca Waldo, with whom at the end of the seventeenth century one Edward Emerson had intermarried, and whose family had fled from the Waldensian valleys and that slaughter of the saints which Milton called on Heaven to avenge. Every tributary, then, that made Emerson what he was, flowed not only from Protestantism, but from 'the Protestantism of the Protestant religion. ' When we are told that Puritanism inexorably locked up the intelligence of its votaries in a dark and straitened chamber, it is worthy to be remembered that the genial, open, lucid, and most comprehensive mind of Emerson was the ripened product of a genealogical tree that at every stage of its growth had been vivified by Puritan sap.

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Emerson is listed on Textopian as an essay by John Morley, dated 1903 CE.

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Work type: Essay
Author: John Morley
Date: 1903 CE
Language: English
Genres: Biography, Philosophy, Literary Criticism, History, Essays
Length: 15,582 words
Structure: 3 chapters, 73 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)

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Genres

Biography — The book explores the life and thoughts of a significant historical figure.
Philosophy — It delves into the philosophical ideas and contributions of the subject.
Literary Criticism — The work analyzes the literary style and impact of the individual.
History — It provides context about the time period and cultural influences surrounding the subject.