Essays: First Series

Essays: First Series is a series of essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published in 1841, concerning transcendentalism.

## Essays

[edit]

The book contains:

1. "History"
2. "Self-Reliance"
3. "Compensation"
4. "Spiritual Laws"
5. "Love"
6. "Friendship"
7. "Prudence"
8. "Heroism"
9. "The Over-Soul"
10. "Circles"
11. "Intellect"
12. "Art"

## Reception

[edit]

Many noted the influence of Thomas Carlyle. An anonymous English reviewer voiced the mainstream view when he wrote that the author of the book "out-Carlyles Carlyle himself," "imitat[ing] his inflations, his verbiage, his Germanico-Kantian abstractions, his metaphysics and mysticism."[1] Jane Welsh Carlyle agreed, giving her impression in a letter to John Sterling: "I find him getting affected, stilted, mystical, and in short 'a considerable of a bore' A bad immitation [sic] of Carlyle's most Carlylish translations of Goethes [sic] most Goetheish passages!"[2] For his part, Sterling described them to William Coningham as "the only book of any pith and significance that has dawned here lately . . . which at a glance, seem far ahead in compass and brilliancy of almost everything England has of late years (generations) produced".[3]

## Musical setting

[edit]

Three fragments from the essay "Spiritual Laws" form the backbone of composer Kaija Saariaho's True Fire for baritone and orchestra (2014), a piece of music that collages texts from various sources. The piece's title is taken from the essay's final sentence, that concludes also the setting: "We know the authentic effects of the true fire through every one of its million disguises."[4]

## See also

[edit]

* Essays: Second Series

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Myerson, Joel, ed. (1992). "Emerson's Essays". Emerson and Thoreau: The Contemporary Reviews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 95.
2. ^ "JWC TO JOHN STERLING, 29 April 1841". The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle. Vol. 13\. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 122.
3. ^ "20 June 1841". Sterling's Letters to Coningham. 1872. p. 22.
4. ^ "True Fire | Kaija Saariaho". www.wisemusicclassical.com. Retrieved 2023-12-17.

## External links

[edit]

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Essays: First Series

* Essays (compilation of First and Second Series) at Standard Ebooks
* Essays: First Series at Google Books.
* Essays First Series public domain audiobook at LibriVox

* v
* t
* e

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Speeches|

* "The American Scholar" (1837)
* "Divinity School Address" (1838)
* "New England Reformers" (1844)

Poetry|

* "The Rhodora" (1834)
* "Concord Hymn" (1836)
* "Uriel" (1846)
* "Brahma" (1856)
* "Boston Hymn" (1863)

Essays|

* "Nature" (1836)
* "Self-Reliance" (1841)
* "Compensation" (1841)
* "The Over-Soul" (1841)
* "Circles" (1841)
* "The Poet" (1844)
* "Experience" (1844)
* "Politics" (1844)

Essay collections|

* Essays: First Series (1841)
* Essays: Second Series (1844)
* Representative Men (1850)
* The Conduct of Life (1860)

Related|

* Rev. William Emerson (father)
* Edward Waldo Emerson (son)
* Mary Moody Emerson (aunt)
* Ezra Ripley (stepfather)
* The Atlantic
* Correspondence with Carlyle
* "Letter to Martin Van Buren"
* Ralph Waldo Emerson House
* The Old Manse
* Transcendentalism
* Transcendental Club
* Concord Museum

This article about a philosophical essay or essay collection is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template