Essays: First Series
Last updated October 31, 2026
Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 collection of twelve essays includes some of his best-known writing, among them Self-Reliance, Compensation, The Over-Soul, Friendship, History and Circles. The essays urge readers to rely on their own judgment, resist conformity and look for the spiritual laws that lie behind everyday life. The Harvard University Press edition of his collected works presents the 1841 text with scholarly notes.
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