'''Ralph Waldo Emerson''' (Boston 1803-1882) was a poet and essayist associated strongly with [[Romanticism]] and [[Transcendentalism]]. These movements were reactions to the industrialization of the society at the turn of the 18th century, and reactions especially against the world's increasing complexity. Emerson, along with other [[transcendentalism|trancendentalist]] poets, believed that a respect for, or a return to, the simplicity of the beauty of nature was required to preserve human uniqueness. Emerson graduated from Harvard University at the age of 18. | '''Ralph Waldo Emerson''' (Boston 1803-1882) was a poet and essayist associated strongly with [[Romanticism]] and [[Transcendentalism]]. These movements were reactions to the industrialization of the society at the turn of the 18th century, and reactions especially against the world's increasing complexity. Emerson, along with other [[transcendentalism|trancendentalist]] poets, believed that a respect for, or a return to, the simplicity of the beauty of nature was required to preserve human uniqueness. Emerson graduated from Harvard University at the age of 18. |