A collection of eight most notable essays from the father of American transcendentalism, essays included in this collection are: Nature 1836 - The American Scholar 1837 - History (Essays, First Series) 1841 - Self-Reliance (Essays, First Series) 1841 - The Over-Soul (Essays, First Series) 1841 - Circles (Essays, First Series) 1841 - The Poet (Essays, Second Series) 1844 - Experience (Essays, Second Series) 1844 Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an ordained minister, renowned orator, essayist, philosopher, and beloved author and poet whose ideas on nature, philosophy, and religion influenced authors such as Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. He was a tireless and diligent public intellectual who would deliver over 1500 lectures over the course of his career, educating thousands of people within academia and wider society about his beliefs, principles and personal philosophy. Through his writings, Emerson ardently professed the importance of being an individual, resisting the comfort of conformity, and creating an art of living in harmony with nature.