Who’s Waldo? Ralph Waldo Emerson was a writer during the transcendentalist period. Most well-known for his transcendentalist book Nature, Emerson wrote many essays as well. His essays spoke about many different topics such as, memory, the uses of man, and even a political protest to the annexation of Texas. His personal life affected his work as well, with his stories and essays delving into darker topics after the deaths of his family members. Emerson’s life was both beautiful and somber with his optimism and with the unfortunate deaths of his family. Emerson was a transcendentalist writer born in Boston in 1805. His life was filled with tragedy due to the unfortunate deaths of his family members. Born of William Emerson, a noticeable Unitarian …show more content…
This seventy-four-page book revolves around nature and human life. With a great sense of the beauty of nature it is easy to see that Emerson truly enjoyed nature and took influence from a close friend, Henry Thoreau. The imagery in the book is very beautiful, with Emerson using quotes such as, “The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his delighted childhood” (Emerson n. pag.). This story was so famous for the delightful way Emerson talks about topics. It seems as if Emerson was born to write with how well his words come together, and the images his words cause you to visualize. Other than Nature, Emerson also wrote many essays and compiled them into many different editions of books such as, Representative Men, English Traits, and The Conduct of Life …show more content…
From his first wife to his youngest son, these deaths shaped both him and his writing. After each time a member of his family died, however, he was able to compose himself and pull himself out of writing about such dark topics. He took influence from friends of his such as Thoreau and from his surroundings in Nature with the clear correlation to his own admiration of nature. Another influence of Emerson’s was Mary Moody Emerson, his aunt. She had a large role in Emerson’s life especially with his early education on religion. “...she talked endlessly to her nephew about the charms of solitary communion with nature and the pastoral delights of the poetry of William Wordsworth” (von Frank). This influence from his aunt was able to create a sense of beauty when thinking about nature in Emerson (von