Rationalism, Romanticism, and Transcendentalism

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Rationalism, Romanticism, and Transcendentalism

• Comparing Three Literary Periods

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Rationalism Defined

• Rationalists believed that humans could find
  truth through reason, rather than relying on
  religion, faith, intuition, or past scholars.
  Rationalists believed God gave mankind reason as
  a gift. In early America, and the Age of Reason,
  man had to use reason to find ways of simply
  surviving in the difficult environment.

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Historical Time Period

• 1750-1800

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Realist Authors

• Thomas Paine
• Benjamin Franklin
• Thomas Jefferson

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Quotes from the Realists

• To Follow by faith alone is to follow blindly.
  Benjamin Franklin
• My mind is my own church. Thomas Paine
• To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of
  darkness, the general mind must be strengthened
  by education Thomas Jefferson

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Romanticism Defined

• Romanticism is the journey away from the
  corruption of society, civilization, and the
  limits of all rational thought the journey leads
  toward nature and the overall freedom of the
  imagination. Romanticism believed that intuition,
  imagination, and emotion marked a clearer route
  to truth than reason alone. Romanticism believed
  poetry to be superior to science, and that the
  contemplation of the natural world is the means
  of discovering the "truth". Romanticism
  exhibited a distrust of industry and city life,
  and the idealization of rural life and the
  wilderness. Romanticism also explored a deep
  interest in the supernatural.

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Romanticism Defined

• Romantic writing frequently uses the countryside
  as a backdrop, the perfect symbol of freedom and
  moral clarity. However, some Romantic writers
  (like Poe) used purely fictional locations as
  their "countryside". Romantic literature often
  involves an escape from civilization and
  responsibility, frequently leading to a more
  simplistic life. Prominent Romantic writers
  journeyed to the understanding of higher truth
  either by exploring the past/exotic/supernatural
  realms, or through the contemplation of the
  natural world.

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Historical Time Period

• 1800-1860

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Romantic Authors

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Washington Irving
• William Cullen Bryant
• James Fenimore Cooper
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Emily Dickinson
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Herman Melville

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Quotes from the Romantics

• Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile.
  William Cullen Bryant
• The minority of a country is never known to
  agree, except in its efforts to reduce and
  oppress the majority. James Fenimore Cooper
• Find ecstasy in life the mere sense of living
  is joy enough. Emily Dickinson

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Transcendentalism Defined

• Transcendentalists held that God can be found in
  every aspect of nature (including humanity), and
  that everyone is capable of reaching God through
  intuition. Transcendentalists also believed that
  self-reliance and individuality must outweigh
  conformity. Writings often assert a positive
  spiritual reason behind each occurrence in nature
  and frequently hail the beauty of rebellion, the
  rejection of society, and the struggle toward
  inner peace and understanding. Transcendentalism
  held a very optimistic view of the world.

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Historical Time Period

• 1840-1860

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Transcendental Authors

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Henry David Thoreau
• Margaret Fuller

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Quotes from the Transcendentalists

• Male and female represent the two sides of the
  great radical dualism. But in fact they are
  perpetually passing into one another. Fluid
  hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is
  no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine
  woman. Fuller
• It is what a man thinks of himself that really
  determines his fate. Henry David Thoreau
• The mass of men lead lives of quiet
  desperation. Thoreau
• We are always getting ready to live, but never
  living Emerson
• Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything
  beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.
  Emerson

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