Transcendentalism

“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

“God will not have his work made manifest by cowards” -Emerson, Self Reliance

   Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist, writer, and lecturer. He has written many famous pieces of writing including Nature and Self Reliance.  Emerson would produce these writings to help the people of his time to become less materialistic and help focus on three main things: God, man, and nature.  During this time period many reforms were starting to go on because society was taking a turn for the worst. Many people were drinking and relationships between people were awful; there was tons of violence in homes and on the streets.  In the first quote, Emerson talks about how its important to be an individual. You should not try and imitate others. Also he says how you should find a hobby or skill you are good at, and use that for the better. He believes everyone is unique in their own way. In the second quote, he says that God will want courageous people do his work, because its not meant to be easy. Another huge social problem during this time was slavery. Emerson says this quote for people to realize its important to stand up for what is morally correct; he kind of directs this at his readers to say that god is waiting for someone to take a stand and start working. Overall, Emerson still makes a huge impact today through the words said in his essays.