Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Birth of Emerson at Boston, Massachusetts, May 25, 1803; coincidence with the birth of Bulwer; his paternal ancestry; his mother and maternal grandfather; his father an active and influential clergyman; death of his father, May 12, 1811; family cares and difficulties; Emerson's aunt, Mary Moody Emerson, and her influence upon him; Emerson at the Boston Latin School, 1813; enters Harvard College as "President's freshman," 1817; not remarkably distinguished as a collegian; graduates, 1821; assists his elder brother in school-keeping; his first poetry and his love of nature; enters Divinity College, Cambridge, to; study for the ministry, 182511

Condition of the times when Emerson entered Cambridge; his admiration for Channing's discourses; want of personal sympathy; Emerson's studies interrupted by illness; returns for a time to school-keeping; "approbated to preach," October 10, 1826; his first sermon; goes to Florida for the recovery of his health; returns home, June, 1827; continues his studies at Divinity Hall; temporary insanity of his brother Edward, June, 1828; elected assistant minister, and shortly afterwards sole minister of the Second Church, Boston, 1829; betrothed to Ellen Tucker