Emerson and the Orphic Poet in America

In Emerson and the Orphic Poet in America , the author explores Ralph Waldo Emerson’s conception of poetry and the poet within the context of a larger Romantic tradition. Emerson’s work represents a critical shift in American thought, merging European Romantic ideals with an American voice. At the heart of his vision is the idea of the poet as both a visionary and a liberator of truth, a concept that Emerson inherited from a variety of traditions, including Blake’s notion of the “universal man”