Ralph Waldo Emerson meets Thomas Carlyle

On this day in 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson met influential British writer Thomas Carlyle, with whom he would correspond for 38 years. Carlyle and the English romantic poets would have an important effect on Emerson's work.

Ralph Waldo Emerson came from a long line of American ministers. He enjoyed a sheltered childhood in Boston, and attended Harvard Divinity School. Although Emerson accepted a position as pastor of a Boston Church in 1829, the death of his wife in 1831 deepened his existing religious doubts. He resigned two years later, explaining to his congregation that he had started to doubt the sacraments.

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