'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.' Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) was an American essayist and poet. One of the young nation's first recognised public intellectuals, he championed the writing of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman and opined on everything from the evils of slavery to the glories of solitude. His essays such as Self-Reliance argued for a distinctly American style of philosophical individualism, untethered to hidebound traditions and prejudices. Edited by professor David Mikics (The Annotated Emerson) and enhanced with gorgeous woodcuts by Charles W. Smith, this collection of Emerson's essays and poetry is a beautiful introduction to one of America's greatest writers and thinkers.

Disseminating his genius through celebrated essays and the hundreds of public lectures he gave across the United States, Ralph Waldo Emerson led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century and was lionised as a champion of individualism and a staunch critic of the countervailing pressures of society. The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature’s finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents the complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with beautiful illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Emerson’s life and works * Detailed introduction to the life of Emerson * Excellent formatting of the poems * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry * Hundreds of rare poems appearing here for the first time in digital publishing * Easily locate the poems you want to read * Includes Emerson’s letters – spend hours exploring the poet’s personal correspondence * The complete prose works, with all the essays * A generous selection of early, middle and late journals – appearing here for the first time in digital publishing * Features two biographies – discover Emerson’s literary life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres CONTENTS: The Poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson BRIEF INTRODUCTION: RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE COMPLETE POEMS The Poems LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER The Books NATURE: ADDRESSES AND LECTURES ESSAYS. FIRST SERIES ESSAYS, SECOND SERIES REPRESENTATIVE MEN MEMOIRS OF MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI by R. F. Fuller ENGLISH TRAITS THE CONDUCT OF LIFE SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE LETTERS AND SOCIAL AIMS LECTURES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES MISCELLANIES NATURAL HISTORY OF INTELLECT AND OTHER PAPERS The Essays LIST OF ESSAYS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF ESSAYS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER The Letters THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THOMAS CARLYLE AND RALPH WALDO EMERSON The Journals SELECTED JOURNALS The Biographies RALPH WALDO EMERSON by Oliver Wendell Holmes BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH by Edward W. Emerson Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, pastor, lecturer, and public figure. During his life, he was one of the most prominent thinkers and writers in the United States with his work remaining influential today. In the late 19th century, after the death of Benjamin Franklin, it was Emerson who filled the role of thinker, motivator, and spiritual guide for the American nation. While he was the mentor and friend of Henry David Thoreau, he was viewed by most liberals of his generation as their spiritual leader. The admiration was well deserved: he was the first thinker to formulate the philosophy of transcendentalism. Emerson’s writings influenced the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Maurice Maeterlinck, Charles Baudelaire, and Leo Tolstoy. Poems of Youth and Early Manhood Poems, 1847 May-Day and Other Pieces Elements and Mottoes Quatrains Fragments Uncollected Poems Translations The Poems Essays. First Series Essays, Second Series Representative Men

"Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men Representative Men is a collection of seven lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published as a book of essays in 1850. The first essay discusses the role played by "great men" in society, and the remaining six each extol the virtues of one of six men deemed by Emerson to be great. Emerson was inspired by the Romantic belief that there exists a "general mind" that expresses itself with special intensity through certain individual lives. It reflects an appreciation of genius as a quality distributed to the few for the benefit of the many.

Emerson’s enduring reputation, however, is as a philosopher, an aphoristic writer (like Friedrich Nietzsche) and a quintessentially American thinker whose championing of the American Transcendental movement and influence on Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, William James, and others would alone secure him a prominent place in American cultural history. Emerson is often characterized as an idealist philosopher and indeed used the term himself of his philosophy, explaining it simply as a recognition that plan always precedes action. History Self-Reliance Compensation Spiritual Laws Love Friendship Prudence Heroism The Over-Soul Circles Intellect Art Nature American Scholar