Photo (Above): by Victoria Syhalath
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803 - 1882)
Exciting Beginnings
A pioneer of the American Renaissance, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a teacher, preacher, philosopher, lecturer and poet. Born into a prominent Boston family, Emerson graduated from Harvard College. At the age of 26 he followed in his father's footsteps and became a Unitarian minister until the early death of his first wife Ellen; at which point Emerson suffered a religious crisis and resigned from the church in order to travel Europe.
While abroad Emerson befriended a number of individuals who soon came to be influential figures in their own right: philosophers such as Henry David Thoreau, writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, and journalist-activist Margaret Fuller. Among this circle, Emerson began to shape his ideas surrounding Transcendentalism-- a philosophical movement of which Emerson was the center.
While abroad Emerson befriended a number of individuals who soon came to be influential figures in their own right: philosophers such as Henry David Thoreau, writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, and journalist-activist Margaret Fuller. Among this circle, Emerson began to shape his ideas surrounding Transcendentalism-- a philosophical movement of which Emerson was the center.
The Ideas of Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism, in sum, purports that individuals have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that goes beyond, or "transcends", their physical senses-- knowledge is acquired through intuition and imagination, and not through logic or the senses. Early transcendentalists placed great emphasis on the responsibility of individuals to discern right from wrong; not relying on tradition or governance to decide upon the morality of human action. It was this passion for social justice that lead transcendentalist Margaret Fuller to become a feminist writer, and Emerson himself to become a staunch Abolitionist and advocate for Native American rights.
Transcendentalism and Nature
"Nature is the incarnation of thought. The world is the mind precipitated."
- from Nature (1836)
- from Nature (1836)
For Emerson, the source of his inspiration for the poem "The Humble Bee" is said to stem from his perspective on the softness, beauty, and purity of nature. Transcendentalists view nature as a reflection of all that humanity can possibly know; and you can see in his description of the honey bee as it works that Emerson sees in it humanistic qualities of the sweetest kind.