Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joseph Thomas (Albright College)
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in Boston on May 25, 1803, lived most of his life in nearby Concord, a town founded by his Puritan ancestor Peter Bulkeley, who had fled English persecution in 1635. Emerson's lineage was steeped in religious culture. His great-grandfather, step-grandfather, and grandfather all were Concord pastors; his grandfather William, who died in 1776, was known as the “patriot minister of the Revolution”. Emerson's father William (1769-1811) became the prominent Federalist pastor of Boston's First Church and helped establish two of that city's important early cultural institutions, the Boston Athenaeum and

The Monthly Anthology

, forerunner of the influential

North American Review

. His mother, Ruth Haskins Emerson (1768-1853), was the daughter of a prosperous Boston…

2360 words

Citation: Thomas, Joseph. "Ralph Waldo Emerson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4905, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4905 Ralph Waldo Emerson 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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