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"There are days which occur in this climate, at almost any season of the year, wherein the world reaches its perfection when everything that has life gives sign of satisfaction, and the cattle that lay on the ground seem to have great and tranquil thoughts."(Essays and English Traits, 223) Ralph Waldo Emerson was considered by many to be "an abstract writer" but "a brilliant orator."(wikipedia.org, 19 May 2006.) He was a Transcendentalist, believing in existence "outside of or not in accordance with nature." (dictionary.com)

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian minister. In 1811, when Ralph Waldo Emerson was only 8 years old, his father died. After his father's death, Emerson went to Boston Latin School.. Just 6 years after his father's death, at 14 in 1817, he went to Harvard, where he was appointed President's freshman. Being President's freshman gave him a room free of charge. He also managed to receive a scholarship, taking care of his tuition. To make a little money, he tutored outside of school and taught at his Uncle Ripley's school in Waltham, Massachusetts during his vacations. After graduating Harvard, Emerson got a job helping his brother at a school for young ladies run at their mother's house. When his brother went to Gttingen to study divinity, Emerson took over the school. Over the next few years, he went to Harvard Divinity School, graduating as a Unitarian minister in 1829. Also in 1829, he married Miss Ellen Louisa Tucker. In April 1831, two years after their wedding, Tucker died. In 1932, just 3 years after his graduation, Emerson quit the ministry, citing disagreements over public prayer and an argument over communion services. In 1833 he traveled to Europe. In 1835, he bought a house in Concord, Mass. The same year, he married his second wife, Lydia Jackson.
Emerson's transcendentalist beliefs had a big effect on his style of poetry. Emerson wrote about three main subjects, nature, love, and a supreme being. These factors, especially the first, nature, and a supreme being, were affected by his transcedental beliefs. He liked to write about the mystery of nature. Another favorite topic of his was love. He wrote about different kinds of love, and what each kind feels like. He also enjoyed writing about the beauty and mystique of nature.
The Transcendental Club, founded in 1836 by Emerson, was "a meeting-place for these young thinkers

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