The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)

Introduction by Mary Oliver
Commentary by Henry James, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau

The definitive collection of Emersons major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the lifes work of a true American Scholar. As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized the splendid labyrinth of ones own perceptions. More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emersons essays the most important work done in prose.

INCLUDES A MODERN LIBRARY READING GROUP GUIDE