Essays: Second Series, is a series of essays written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published in 1844, concerning transcendentalism. This book contains 9 essays: The Poet, Experience, Character, Manners, Gifts, Nature, Politics, Nominalist and Realist, New England Reformers. Artist Bio Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of his age. He was a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of society.