Secondary sourceBook1850
Shakespeare; or, the Poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1850
Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay presenting Shakespeare as the ideal model of the poet, from his book Representative Men.
An essay using Shakespeare as the model of poetic genius, showing his towering reputation by the 1850s.
About this source
What it is
This essay by the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson was published in 1850 as part of his collection Representative Men. In it Emerson discusses William Shakespeare as an example of poetic genius.
Why it matters
Emerson argues that even the greatest genius is shaped by and indebted to the world around him, using Shakespeare to illustrate this idea. The essay shows how Shakespeare's reputation had grown by the mid-nineteenth century to serve as a model for thinking about genius and originality itself.
Look closer
- Why does Emerson argue that no great man is truly original?
- How does Emerson use Shakespeare to make a broader point about genius in general?
- What does this essay suggest about how later generations used Shakespeare's reputation for their own purposes?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William Shakespeare on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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