ralph+waldo+emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a poet, philosopher, and an American lecturer. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May, 25,1803. Ralph Waldo Emerson was raised by Ruth Haskins and Rev. William Emerson. Ralph Waldo Emerson grew up in Boston Massachusetts. Ralph Waldo Emerson's father had died when he was eight years old from stomach cancer. When Ralph Waldo Emerson was young he kept notebooks,which he would write in. He had attended Harvard college and was recognized as the class poet. When Ralph Waldo Emerson graduated from college he joined his brother in producing a school for young women in their mother's house. Ralph Waldo Emerson had established his own school and started living as the school head in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Ralph Waldo Emerson talked about religion and nature in many of his poems. "Rhodora" is a poem written by Raplh Waldo Emerson about a beautiful flower.

"In May, when sea-winds pierced out solitudes, I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, To please the desert and the sluggish brook. The purple petals fallen in the pool Made the black water with their beauty gay; Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, And court the flower that cheapens his array. Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for Being; Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! I never thought to ask; I never knew; But in my simple ignorance suppose The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.

Another poem written by Ralph Waldo Emerson called "Goodbye", "Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home;  Thou art my friend, and I'm not thine.  Long through thy weary crowds I roam;  A river-ark on the ocean brine,  Long I've been tossed like the driven foam;  But now, proud world! I'm going home.

 Good-bye to Flattery's fawning face;  To Grandeur with his wise grimace;  To upstart Wealth's averted eye;  To supple Office, low and high;  To crowded halls, to court and street;  To frozen hearts and hasting feet;  To those who go, and those who come;  Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home.

 I am going to my own hearth-stone, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Bosomed to yon green hills alone,-- <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> A secret nook in a pleasant land, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Whose groves the frolic fairies planned; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Where arches green, the livelong day, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Echo the blackbird's roundelay, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> And vulgar feet have never trod <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> A spot that is sacred to thought and God.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> And when I am stretched beneath the pines, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> Where the evening star so holy shines, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> At the sophist schools and the learned clan; <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> For what are they all, in their high conceit, <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> When man in the bush with God may meet?"

On April 21, 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson was diagnosed with pneumonia. He died on April 27, 1882 at the age of 78.

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