Experience (essay)

"Experience" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was published in the collection Essays: Second Series in 1844. The essay is preceded by a poem of the same title.

In one passage, Emerson speaks out against the effort to over-intellectualize life – and particularly against experiments to create utopias, or ideal communities. A wise and happy life, Emerson believes, requires a different attitude. The mention of "Education Farm" is a reference to Brook Farm, a short-lived utopian community founded by former Unitarian minister George Ripley and his wife Sophia Ripley.

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v t e Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speeches	"The American Scholar" (1837) "Divinity School Address" (1838) "New England Reformers" (1844)
Poetry	"The Rhodora" (1834) "Concord Hymn" (1836) "Uriel" (1846) "Brahma" (1856) "Boston Hymn" (1863)
Essays	"Nature" (1836) "Self-Reliance" (1841) "Compensation" (1841) "The Over-Soul" (1841) "Circles" (1841) "The Poet" (1844) "Experience" (1844) "Politics" (1844)
Essay collections	Essays: First Series (1841) Essays: Second Series (1844) Representative Men (1850) The Conduct of Life (1860)
Related	Rev. William Emerson (father) Edward Waldo Emerson (son) Mary Moody Emerson (aunt) Ezra Ripley (stepfather) The Atlantic Correspondence with Carlyle "Letter to Martin Van Buren" Ralph Waldo Emerson House The Old Manse Transcendentalism Transcendental Club Concord Museum