The Essential Emerson

The Essential Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 847pp.

Reading Ralph Waldo Emerson is a joy, his work is carefully considered and comes roaring out of history with a vengeance. The Essential Emerson is a mammoth book, compiling the entirety of Emerson’s writing into one massive volume. (N.B. It is possible that there are other essays by Emerson outside of this collection, but for the life of me, I cannot find them.) The collection begins with Emerson’s collections of essays and addresses in which he explains the Transcendentalist approach to life. From there he moves into a series of essays about the English and poems. The book wraps up with a small collection of biographical addresses about people Emerson knew and respected. Because this volume contains such a wide variety of Emerson’s work, I’ll divide this review into three sections, then talk about the book as a whole.

Emerson is at his strongest when he talks about philosophy and its role in the lives of individual men, be they real men-Plato or Napolean-or the vague philosophical man at the core of his essays. Nature, in this vein, is one of the strongest sections of the entire collection. It is refreshing to read the exuberance in Emerson’s writing. Much of life feels like drudgery, it is easy to become trapped in the day-to-day reality of living and working. The Transcendentalists, Emerson especially, shift their focus entirely and look beyond this world to a meaning and purpose lurking just behind the experiences in this life.

The poetry in this volume is, at best, uninspired. Emerson’s verse feels like an attempt to bridge out from the essays he is so talented at writing into a form he has not studied, but I know this isn’t the case. Rather, Emerson wrote his poetry in the closing years of the Romantic era, and the style has not aged well.

The low point of the volume, however, is when Emerson broadens his scope from writing about an individual in his essays to discussing the traits of the English. This essay is a long, dry, zest-less generalization of a population that Emerson only knew from reading and a season-long visit to the country. I understand how, in the context of the times, this long essay-delivered as a series of lectures-could have been very worthwhile to his audience. Thinking about it nicely, I’ll leave my discussion of this section with: it didn’t end well.

Plowing through the entirety of Emerson’s works is not an experience I would recommend. Emerson’s writing is enjoyable and refreshing, but it is at its best in small doses. I think that it is not accidental that Emerson reaches his peak in the form of the essay. When you read a single essay of his at a time, there is enough space and time to let the thought sink in and really enjoy it. By contrast, when you soak up 800 pages of Emerson in preparation for a trip to Concord, Massachusetts; the result is less than pleasurable.

Would I recommend The Essential Emerson? Yes, but in doses not to exceed three essays per day.

Score: 4.3/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Yes.

-Mr. Cheddar