Ralph Waldo Emerson was an eminent American writer and philosopher of the 19th century. He is also heralded as the forefather of Transcendentalism, a literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of that century.

Emerson and his fellow Transcendentalists criticised the society of which they were a part, calling to task its unthinking conformity. They urged that each person find, in Emerson’s words, “an original relation to the universe”. Emerson sought and found this relation through solitude and nature, or solitude in nature.

He is famous now for his many essays, including "Self-Reliance", a long discussion on the merits of standing on one’s own two feet.

This philosophy has found its supporters and critics alike in the 21st century: it appeals to those who value personal growth and the development of the self, while it rankles with others who see the preoccupation with the self and the neglect of community as one of modernity’s original sins.

I can see both sides of the argument, but if I fall anywhere, I fall absolutely on the side of Emerson.

The self, the individual, the genius of one person is, to me, a core ingredient in so much that is good in the world. It lies at the heart of art, of literature, of science and all other human progress.

The problem arises when that individual self become a Doctor Evil type, greedily amassing a fortune while living in a mansion at the top of a mountain. As long as the individual, the self, the person, interfaces with and brings value to the rest of society, helping other people along the road as they themselves were helped before, then that’s the best possible outcome.

This poem is, I think, a perfect representation of that nuanced ideal: the successful person who actualises himself or herself, while staying a true and essential part of the greater whole.

You can read the poem here

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