Father of Transcendentalism
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About:
Ralph Waldo Emmerson (May 25, 1803 -- April 27, 1882) was one of the principal Tanscendental figures of the 19th century. He was educated at Hardvard where he studied to be a minister like his father before him. He resigned as a minister in Boston in 1832 shortly after his first wife died. From Boston he moved to Concord Massachusetts, the birth of Transcendentalism. With Bronson Alcott, George Ripley and Margaret Fuller he started a magazine called The Dial in 1840, where many of his first essays were written. Including some of his most famous works such as "Self-Reliance" these essays were published in 1841.
Excerpt:
"foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosiphers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with the shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today. -- ' Ah so you shall be misunderstood.'-- Is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagros was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood" - Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
Analysis:
The 'foolish consistency' which Emerson refers to is the norm which everyone conforms to. When he calls it the 'hobgoblin of little minds' he is calling conformity childish essentially. He goes on to say that great minds will have nothing to do when they conform. What a great mind should do is speak out. Not only should they speak out they should speak in "hard words ... though it contradict everthing you said today". The tanscendentalists were all about the individual, and to be an individual one should not simply say what everyone else does. The biggest concern with being an individual is that one will be misunderstood. Emerson gives a slew of examples of great people who, during the time they lived, were vastly misunderstood. Then he even goes further by saying "to be great is to be misunderstood" which ties greatness, which everyone strives for, with being misunderstood, which most people avoid.
Ralph Waldo Emmerson (May 25, 1803 -- April 27, 1882) was one of the principal Tanscendental figures of the 19th century. He was educated at Hardvard where he studied to be a minister like his father before him. He resigned as a minister in Boston in 1832 shortly after his first wife died. From Boston he moved to Concord Massachusetts, the birth of Transcendentalism. With Bronson Alcott, George Ripley and Margaret Fuller he started a magazine called The Dial in 1840, where many of his first essays were written. Including some of his most famous works such as "Self-Reliance" these essays were published in 1841.
Excerpt:
"foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosiphers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with the shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today. -- ' Ah so you shall be misunderstood.'-- Is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagros was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood" - Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
Analysis:
The 'foolish consistency' which Emerson refers to is the norm which everyone conforms to. When he calls it the 'hobgoblin of little minds' he is calling conformity childish essentially. He goes on to say that great minds will have nothing to do when they conform. What a great mind should do is speak out. Not only should they speak out they should speak in "hard words ... though it contradict everthing you said today". The tanscendentalists were all about the individual, and to be an individual one should not simply say what everyone else does. The biggest concern with being an individual is that one will be misunderstood. Emerson gives a slew of examples of great people who, during the time they lived, were vastly misunderstood. Then he even goes further by saying "to be great is to be misunderstood" which ties greatness, which everyone strives for, with being misunderstood, which most people avoid.