Ralph Waldo Emerson stands as one of the great figures of nineteenth-century America. 

More than any other man he personifies the brilliant late flowering of the New England tradition. 

This Signet Classic edition of selections from Emerson's Journals, Letters, Essays, and Poetry offers a broad view of the author's finest work. 

Featured here is a considerable amount of new material from the Journals, including an entry discovered in 1964 in the Library of Congress which reveals Emerson's enlightened attitude about "the Negro question." 

The writings range from homely descriptions of daily life to superbly polished meditations on human purpose and destiny, from sharply etched biographical studies to soaring, lyric, philosophical flights. 

Shaped by a passionate belief in individual freedom and a deep humility before the immensity of Nature, they reflect a life and a spirit whose independence and integrity speak out with resounding significance to the modern world.