Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston 1803-1882) was a poet and essayist associated strongly with Romanticism and one of the founders of 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 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.

Emerson especially railed against the increasingly conformity in society brought about by industrialization. Fearing especially the influence of religion, he wrote to encourage men to be different, and rejoice in their difference. Towards that end, he wrote,

"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist," and,

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by petty statesmen."

These were both in his famous essay, "Self Reliance."