Newborn Bards of the Holy Ghost: The Seven Seniors and Emerson's “Divinity School Address”

Abstract

When Ralph Waldo Emerson entered Divinity Hall in July 1838 to address the Harvard Divinity School's graduating class, he aimed to inspire a new generation of preachers, not to undermine Christianity or launch transcendentalism. This paper examines the members of that class to reveal the extent of Emerson's immediate influence.