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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Research paper facts.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803 in a house on the corner of Summer and Chauncy Streets.
He was the son of Reverend William Emerson and Ruth Haskins.
Emerson was the third of six sons. His brothers were Edward, Ralph, Charles, Berkeley and William.
Emerson's father died in 1811 at age 42; Emerson was only eight years old at the time.
His mother died on November 16, 1853.
Emerson learned to face death from his Aunt Mary Moody Emerson who, deliberately lived with death everyday.
While serving as a preacher in Concord, Emerson falls in love with a 17 year old poet name Ellen Lousia Tucker.
Emerson and Ellen will get engaged and then marry on September 10, 1829 when Ellen is 18.
Ellen Tucker dies on Febuary 8, 1831 at age 20 from tuberculosis.
On March 29, 1832, Emerson will miss Ellen Tucker so much that he'll open her coffin.
Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821 as class poet.
"Believe in magnetism, not needles." - R.W.E.
Meaning: Ideas, even the idea of death, cannot be separated from sense experience.
After Ellen dies, Emerson resigns from his minster job at the Second Church in Boston.
He goes on a tour of Europe and England and begins a career in lecturing.
Emerson's brother Edward Emerson dies October 1, 1834.
Emerson moves to Concord and marries Lydia Jackson on September 14, 1835.
His brother Charles Emerson dies on May 9, 1836.
Emerson's essay "Nature" in the year 1836.
Waldo Emerson is born October 30, 1836.
Ellen Tucker Emerson is born Febuary 24, 1839.
Waldo Emerson dies January 27, 1842 from scarlet fever at age 6.
Edward Emerson is born July 10, 1844.
Emerson goes on another tour of Europe in 1847. While he's gone, his friend Henry David Thoreau will watch his house and family.
Margret Fuller will stay with the Emerson's in three weeks. During this time, Emerson and Fuller will develop a give and take relationship.
Emerson will use a revelation that Margret has in his essay "Nature."
Margret Fuller dies on July 19, 1850.
Burkeley Emerson dies on May 27, 1859.
Henry David Thoreau will die on May 6, 1862 from tuberculosis.
While Henry was alive, Emerson gave him land to fullfill and experiment at Walden Pond.
Mary Moody Emerson will die on October 3, 1863.
William Emerson will die on September 13, 1868.
Emerson's book "Society and Solitude" will be published.
Emerson's house burns on July 24, 1872.
Parnassus is published.
Ralph Waldo Emerson dies on April 27, 1882 in Concord, Massachusetts.
When Bronson Alcott visits Emerson on October 18 1869, the two become good friends.
Alcott will encourage Emerson to keep a journal by saying "Every man is a revelation, and ought to write his record."
While in Concord, Emerson will admire the work the young copyist Sophia Peabody and will become good friends with her husband, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
At one point, Nathaniel & Sophia Hawthorne will spend a 3 year honeymoon in Emerson's home. They will name it the "Old Manse."
When Emerson was 35, he became good friends with 20 year old Naturalist Henry David Thoreau.
When Thoreau dies at age 44, Emerson will be the one to give his effigy.
Lousia May Alcott (B. Alcott's daughter) is friends with Waldo Emerson until he dies. His death happens when she's nine.
Waldo's death inspires Emerson's poem "Threnody."
"But over the dead he has no power,
The lost, he cannot restore;
And, looking over the hills I mourn,
The darling who shall not return.
Emerson's family has finacial struggles after Ralph's father's death because he didn't leave any money when he died.
Emerson's Aunt Mary Moody Emerson will help the family get by after her brother's death.
Emerson will also write Self- Reliance.
Ralph Waldo Emerson will create a faith known as Transcendentalism.