Ezra Ripley, D.D. Summary and Analysis

Emerson wrote this tribute to his stepfather to share with the Social Circle of Concord—a group that gathered in various homes during the winter to discuss and share topical matters. Although Ripley graduated from Harvard in 1776, he was not so much a man of books as a preacher, which he practiced throughout his life. He entered college at the age of sixteen, after being a farmer. Emerson says his step-father was the last of the old line of Puritan preachers in New England, and viewed the world through "the parochial point of view." Although a rigidly self-righteous man, Ripley expected nothing from others that he did not practice in his own life, according to Emerson. He was "perfectly sincere, punctual, severe but just and charitable." Rev. Ripley was "a natural gentleman" with strong...