Essays: First Series
Also known as Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 collection of twelve essays, including "Self-Reliance" and "The Over-Soul".
At a glance
Key ideas
Trust thyself, Nonconformity, The Over-Soul …
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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Carlyle
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Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Emerson's second book gathers twelve essays on transcendentalism, many grown out of his lectures.
- "Self-Reliance" argues that each person should trust themselves and refuse conformity.
- "The Over-Soul" describes a single soul within which every person's being is joined to all others.
- "Compensation" finds a balancing dualism throughout nature.
- The book first appeared as Essays and was renamed after the Second Series came out in 1844.
Why it matters
- With his Second Series it holds the core of Emerson's thinking, and its reception laid the groundwork for his international fame.
Key facts
- Author
- Ralph Waldo Emerson1
- Published
- 1841, as Essays; renamed Essays: First Series after Essays: Second Series appeared in 18443
- Essays
- History, Self-Reliance, Compensation, Spiritual Laws, Love, Friendship, Prudence, Heroism, The Over-Soul, Circles, Intellect, Art1
- Reception
- Many reviewers saw Thomas Carlyle's influence; one said Emerson "out-Carlyles Carlyle himself"1
- Abroad
- Reviewed favourably in London and Paris2
- Music
- Kaija Saariaho's True Fire (2014) sets fragments of "Spiritual Laws"1
Key ideas
-
Trust thyself4
In "Self-Reliance", truth is inside a person, and no institution has authority over the self.
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Nonconformity4
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist"; and "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".
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The Over-Soul5
The conscious ego is slight beside the soul, and at some level all souls are connected.
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Compensation3
Nature balances opposites, so life calls for moderation rather than excess.
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Circles6
"The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second", a figure repeated without end in nature.
Connections
Links
Sources
- Essays: First Series (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- Compensation (essay) (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- Self-Reliance (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- The Over-Soul (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- Circles (essay) (Wikipedia) (opens en.wikipedia.org)
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