Ralph Waldo Emerson

Born

May 25, 1803

Died

April 27, 1882 (aged 78)

Known as

philosopher, poet, writer, essayist, diarist, biographer

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche thought he was "the most gifted of the Americans", and Walt Whitman called Emerson his "master".

Biography from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.