Transcendentalism

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Transcendentalism
- Joseph Sherlock
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Period Overview

• Post-Romanticism American literary and
  philosophic movement which flourished during the
  early and middle years of the 19th century.
• Comes from the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.

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Successfully started a reform movement within
the Unitarian church in the early years of its
existence. Strongly believed in self-reliance
and individualism. Focused on the ideas that
true reality is spiritual and that man is
intended to be good.
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• Transcendentalist literature consisted
  primarily of short stories, essays, novels, and
  poetry.
• Major authors of this period included Ralph
  Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, and William Henry
  Channing.

-Emerson
-Thoreau
-Channing
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Social Effects

• Inspired in transcendentalist followers and
  readers the beliefs of individualism,
  self-reliance, and the natural good found in man.
• Encouraged people to look beyond the physical
  aspects of their lives and more in to the
  spiritual and psychological.
• Also increased public awareness of the evils of
  slavery and the harmful treatment of American
  Indians during that time period.
• All of these implications were expressed
  through both novels and essays written to be both
  sold and preformed in the public eye by the
  author.

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• Prominent examples of these particular literary
  works would be Thoreaus Slavery in Massachusetts
  and Emersons Lecture on Slavery.
• These works expressed the abolitionist goals of
  the transcendentalist movement publicly, leading
  to a greater influence on the American train of
  thought on these controversial subjects.

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• Unfortunately, not all the issues fought for by
  transcendentalists were fully supported in the
  public eye.
• The issue of the Native Americans is a perfect
  example of this, displaying that even with the
  far reaching ideas of transcendentalist
  literature, very few readers expressed the
  negative opinions of the transcendentalists about
  this issue.

The Trail of Tears
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• These various social implications of the
  transcendentalists ultimately resulted in the
  increasingly common behavior of transcendentalist
  follows to strive to work for the greater good.
• This new attitude gave rise to the expression
  that if human beings were to be left in a natural
  state they would seek the good, and thus the
  essential nature of human beings is that of good.
  
• This led to the increasing trend of
  philanthropist acts among both seasoned
  transcendentalist follower and those who were
  simply inspired by a piece of strongly worded
  literature.

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Religious Influence

• The transcendentalist literary era brought with
  it a new view of religion, one not so harsh and
  rule based like that of the Puritans, but one
  more relaxed and peaceful, with a feeling of
  responsibility among its followers to change the
  world for the better and not just themselves.

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• The transcendentalist view of God was also
  fairly different from the societal norm of that
  era.
• In transcendentalist philosophy, God is not
  seen as a wrathful and controlling being whose
  soul purpose is to move and shake the human race
  as He sees fit. But more of an oversoul, who is
  good in every sense of the word and whose soul
  purpose is to create man and remerge with him in
  the end.

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• The religious aspects of transcendentalism also
  express no view of the formation of evil or a
  punishment for those who cross the values of the
  oversoul.
• Also, there is no divine creation of mankind
  expressed, the view of such situations is that
  everything on Earth (including both mankind and
  nature) is one and the same to the oversoul,
  just a manifestation of its creative power.
• Nature itself is viewed in transcendentalism as
  something which should be respected and embraced
  for the insight it gives into the what the
  transcendentalists believed was the true
  intention for mankind to do good works.

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• With such a philanthropic view for mankind, the
  spiritual side of transcendentalism encouraged
  the realization of ones fullest capabilities,
  through the connection of yourself, nature, and
  the higher power.
• The movements push on self-reliance was also
  expressed through this, giving rise to the idea
  of inevitable progress and a free life from
  divine control, which was a fairly unheard of
  concept for quite a while, particularly during
  the Puritan era.

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Political Implications

• The greatest political influence of the
  transcendentalist era is represented through the
  change in attitude towards human rights among
  both the voters and the high ranking political
  figures.
• In fact, Emerson once wrote a personal letter
  to President Martin Van Buren on the atrocities
  of the Trail of Tears.

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Unfortunately, this letter never took much
political hold over President Van Buren and the
progress of the Trail of Tears was never halted.
However, the mistreatment of American Indians
was not the only political issue which the
transcendentalists spoke out against. For many of
the prominent transcendentalist authors as well
as their readers, were active abolitionists
during the 1850s.
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• This opposition towards slavery was often
  expressed in novels and essays which were
  commonly read aloud and preformed in public by
  the authors themselves, as well as sold to the
  common man, to reinforce the severity and urgency
  of their message.
• These works included Slavery in Massachusetts
  (written in 1854 by Henry David Thoreau) and A
  Lecture on Slavery (written and preformed by
  Ralph Waldo Emerson)

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• Furthermore, many scholars now believe that the
  transcendentalist philosophy can be directly
  associated with that of early socialism, giving
  transcendentalist literature a bad name much
  later during the United States Red Scare.
• However, others believe that this era made way
  for a new ideal for American democracy,
  philanthropic and progressive in nature.

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Artistic Influence

• The influence of transcendentalist philosophy
  and idealism brought a new view point on realism
  and natural art work specific to that period in
  time.
• Divine and beautiful topics were explored but
  also the bizarre in the forms of literal
  illustration of transcendentalist topics, such as
  Emersons transparent eye expression.

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• Artwork during this period also reflected the
  political and social views of the
  transcendentalists, such as the sadness of the
  Cherokee Indians during their long walk down the
  Trail of Tears, and their eradication from all
  lands east of the Mississippi River. As well as
  the horrors of slavery and the slave trade. But
  with these solemn works also came those of
  beautiful scenes of nature, as imagined in the
  transcendentalist view of natural perfection.

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These works of art often depicted scenes of
people working for the better good as well as
extremely abstract imagery with a hidden meaning
probably not understood except by those who are
familiar in the transcendentalist philosophy.
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Bibliography
The Web of American Transcendentalism.
www.vcu.edu. Virginia Commonwealth University,
Spring 1999. Web. 04 Feb. 2011.
lthttp//www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/gt
Goodman, Russell. Transcendentalism (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Plato.stanford.edu. Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, 24 June 2008. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
lthttp//plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentali
sm/gt
Gaither. American Literature Major Movements and
Terms. Staff.gps.edu. GPS Junior English. Web.
03 Feb. 2011. lthttp//staff.gps.edu/gaither/lite
rary_movements.htmgt.
Campbell, Donna M. American Transcendentalism.
Washington State University Pullman
Washington. Dept. of English, Washington State
University, 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Feb. 2011.
lthttp//www.wdu.edu/campbelld/amlit/amtrans.htm
gt.