Essays: First Series

Emerson's first collection of essays, published in 1841, which reworked material from his journals and lectures into twelve pieces: 'History', 'Self-Reliance', 'Compensation', 'Spiritual Laws', 'Love', 'Friendship', 'Prudence', 'Heroism', 'The Over-Soul', 'Circles', 'Intellect' and 'Art'. 'Self-Reliance', the most famous, urges readers to trust their own intuition against conformity, tradition and the opinions of society, and warns that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. 'Compensation' argues that every gain carries a cost and that a moral balance runs through nature. 'The Over-Soul' describes a universal mind or spirit in which every individual shares and from which moments of insight come. 'Circles' presents life as a constant outgrowing of each settled position, since around every circle another can be drawn. 'History' claims that each mind can find the whole of history in itself. Together the essays are central texts of American Transcendentalism.

It is the founding statement of American individualism and nonconformity, and its essays, especially 'Self-Reliance', still prompt readers to ask whether they are living by their own lights.