TRANSCENDENTALISM

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TRANSCENDENTALISM

• The Transcendentalists can be understood by
  their context by what they were rebelling
  against, what they saw as the current situation,
  and therefore, what they were trying to be
  different from.

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Who were the Transcendentalists?

• There were a generation of well educated people
  who lived between 1840-1850.
• They were a generation struggling to define
  American.

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What did the Transcendentalists believe?

• The spiritual hunger of the age gave rise to an
  intuitive, experiential, passionate perspective.
• They believed that God had given humankind the
  gift of insight, the gift of intuition, and the
  gift of inspiration.

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• Most of the transcendentalists became involved in
  social reforms, especially anti-slavery
  (abolitionism) and womens rights.
• They believed that all humans had access to
  divine inspiration and so should seek freedom,
  knowledge, and truth.

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The two most influential American
Transcendentalists

• Ralph Waldo Emerson Preacher, Philosopher, and
  Poet
• 1803 1882 Born in Boston
• Education at Harvard
• Originally a minister
• Pursued a career in writing and as a public
  speaker
• Nickname the Sage of Concord
• He expounded his views on the mystical harmonies
  of man and nature, the essential perfectibility
  of the human spirit, the unity of the human soul
  with the divine Over-Soul, and the values of
  non-conformity, intellectual and spiritual
  independence, self-reliance, and utopian
  friendship
• Wrote dozens of poems and essays, most noted
  Nature and Self-Reliance

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The two most influential American
Transcendentalists

• Henry David Thoreau Thinker, Essayist, and
  Naturalist
• Born in 1817 in Concord
• Education at Harvard
• He was a school teacher and writer
• He was a follower of Emerson
• He believed that a writer's work and his life
  should be one
• He devoted both his writing and his life
  increasingly to public issues
• He wrote poetry, essays, and is most notable for
  two books, Civil Disobedience and Walden Pond

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Cornerstone Themes of the Transcendentalists

• Self-reliance
• Individuality
• Nature
• Simplicity

• Nonconformity
• Freedom
• Materialism
• Spirituality