Transcendentalism

Hannah Bredl, Mike Diana, Joe McFarland, and Cody

Siegfried

What is it? It was a mid-nineteenth century

movement of literature and philosophy (1830-1855).

It was a belief of a spiritual state that “transcends” the physical and the empirical that can be realized by the individual

Transcendentalists believed in self-reliance, self- culture, and self-discipline.

Transcendentalism caused changes in literature and sparked social reform.

How did it start?

American transcendentalism has its roots in New England, specifically Boston, Massachusetts (called “the Athens of America”).

Transcendentalists were influenced by Immanuel Kant, German transcendentalism, Asian religious scriptures, and Platonism and Neo-Platonism.

They disagreed with Unitarianism and John Locke’s theory that knowledge comes to the mind from the senses.

Theories Truth goes beyond the senses and cannot

be found by observation alone. Everyone is capable of finding the truth and can be put in direct touch with god (oversoul) without scholars or ministers for interpretation. This idea of inner light is borrowed from the

Quakers. Yet even though transcendentalism

generally believed the same things, each person had different ideas and beliefs that separated them from one another.

Famous Transcendentalists

Henry David Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walt Whitman

Margaret Fuller

Transcendentalism is defined as any philosophy based upon the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the process of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical All that means is that whatever they

were rebelling for they saw what was going on around them and made that be what they wanted to be different from

Definition

Romanticism

Romanticism is defined as an artistic style emphasizing imagination and emotion

What’s the difference?

Relationship

Romanticism Viewed nature as perfect and man as

flawed Focused on self more

Transcendentalism Viewed nature as symbolic and that

nature provided answers about virtue and wisdom

Believed the individual was the ultimate spiritual being that you can derive all truth and knowledge from.

Relationship cont.

Romanticism Value of emotion(stories to be felt by

the reader and inspire them) Nature is a living mystery (not like

clockwork like rationalists) Transcendentalism

God is the compilation of all individual souls on Earth that when you die, your soul transcends too

What Impact did Transcendentalis

m Have on America?

How the people of transcendentalism effected

America"Without Emerson and Thoreau,"

notes Professor Ashton Nichols, "the United States would not have

developed into the nation it has become. We would not believe in the power of the individual to the extent that we do, nor would we see nature

at the center of one view of the American psyche.”

Transcendentalism in America

The extraordinary members of this informal movement provided

intellectual and moral leadership for not only art, and literary

transformations but greatly in social transformations in America. The influence of their ideas continues

today in many aspects of our culture, from efforts to preserve wild nature

to civil disobedience around the world.

Where did the America we know today really come

from? Transcendentalism was cause of….

› Classrooms becoming a vibrant and even pleasurable experience. Class rooms would still be a very strict place No type of recess for younger kids If you had any sort of trouble there was no

extra help which is why school was so difficult..

Established slavery as morally wrong› With out these ideas its possible slavery

wouldn’t had been abolished until later years

Where did the America we know today really

come from? Transcendentalism was cause of….

› Women's rights As for women, this movement was very

important for their equal rights› Certain theologies› Love for nature

Which is good to keep a love for nature but also gave way to tree huggers.

Where did the America we know today really

come from? Transcendentalism was cause of….

› Ability to discover personal truths The source of our distinctly American

way of experiencing ourselves Transcendentalism brought a feeling of

focusing on oneself and learning about yourself

Confidence in our value as individuals

Walt Whitman Born – May 31, 1819 Long Island New York Neither of his parents read his

poetry Forced to drop out of school at

age 9 to support his family Read a lot mainly Homer,

Dante, and Shakespeare Age 17 was a teacher (1836) 1841 he was a journalist Editor for newspapers in

Brooklyn and New Orleans 1850 he created a new kind of

poetry Got inspiration from music Died in 1892

Whitman’s Famous Poems

“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed”

“O captain! My Captain!” (1866) “A Noiseless Patient Spider” “Leaves of Grass” “Song of Myself”

Ralph Waldo Emerson Born Boston 1803 Grew up in Boston, and

went to Harvard Class poet at Harvard Friends with Napoleon's

Nephew Was a teacher at a

Women’s school Originally a minister, but

left for his love of writing Toured Europe Considered a essayist,

philosopher, and poet Died in 1882

Emerson’s Works

“Nature”- 1850 “The American Scholar” – 1837 His many Representative Men “The Naturalist”- 1834 The Lord’s Supper “Bacchus” “Merlin”

Sarah Margaret Fuller Born: 1810 Cambridgeport

MA Very good education for a

girl at her time Best read person in New

England Journalist and translator Knew Latin Looked up to her father Tought at Temple School

in Boston Editor of The Dial

Emerson’s journal Literary Critic for the New

York Tribune Sent to Europe for the

Tribune Died 1850

Fuller’s Works

Summer on the Lakes - 1844 Woman in the Nineteenth Centruy -

1845 Papers on Literature and Art - 1846

Bronson Alcott Born: 1799 Wolcott CT Philosopher, teacher,

reformer Self- Educated Was a peddler in the south Established many schools

for Children Influenced by Johann H.

Pestalozzi, and Socrates Had to close his schools Sold them to rid him of

debt Fan of “Utopian”

Communities Father of Louisa May

Alcott In debt a lot Died 1888

Alcott’s Works

Wrote for Emerson’s The Dial “Orphic Sayings” Fruitlands- his utopian community

Henry David Thoreau Born: 1817 Concord MA Author, poet, naturalist,

philosopher Leading Transcendentalist Studied at Harvard Doesn’t have a diploma

from Harvard Wrote about nature and

being in nature Lived by himself in a cabin

at Walden Pond to be in nature

Went against the grain, anarchist

Died 1862

Thoreau’s Works

Walden or Life in the Woods- 1854 Excursions- 1863 “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”

1849 “Paradise Regained” – 1843 “Slavery in Massachusetts”- 1854 “Walking” – 1861 …. To name a few

Works Cited"Bronson Alcott." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica

Online. 16 May. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/13464/Bronson-Alcott>.

“Henry David Thoreau.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

Kennedy, David M, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. “Trumpeters of Transcendentalism.” The American Pageant. 14th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. 361-364. Print.

“Margaret Fuller.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

“New England Renaissance.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 23 Mar. 2010. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com>.

Seckinger, Ernie. “American Transcendentalism.” Windstream. The Thoreau Society, 29 June 2008. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://home.windstream.net>.

“Transcendentalism.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://www.school.eb.com/ eb/ article-9073185>.

“Transcendentalism.” Transcendentalism. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2010. <http://www.themystica.com/ mystica/ articles/ t/ transcendentalism.html>.

“Walt Whitman.” American Poems. Gunnar Bengtsson, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.americanpoems.com/ poets/ waltwhitman>.

Quiz

1. What do transcendentalists believe?

2. Who influenced the transcendentalists?

3. Name one of the most famous transcendentalists.

4. True or false…. Transcendentalists liked to be one with nature?

Answers

1. They believe the truth can transcend through reflection and observation

2. Germans like Immanuel Kant and religions of Asia

3. Henry David Thoreau (but answers may vary)

4. True!