The American Renaissance 1840-1860 Junior English Ms. Gersten

Renaissance Rebirth or revival You already know about the Italian Renaissance But what about the American Renaissance?

In the mid-19th century, America was still a fledgling society with no real literary talent Sydney Smith, an English critic: “The Americans have [no literature] . . . . In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?”

An American Shakespeare? New England authors such as Melville and Hawthorne discussed whether there would ever be an American author to rival the English author and poet William Shakespeare.

The Beginning of Change Herman Melville began to campaign for Americans to “prize and cherish” their own writers. He believed that Nathaniel Hawthorne could be a contemporary of Shakespeare The Scarlet Letter

One Movement; Two Paths The literary explosion that occurred as a result of Melville’s, and other’s, campaign created two similar, yet opposite, philosophies. Transcendentalism Anti-Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism From Latin, meaning a “passing over” a “climbing beyond” Began around 1836 at the publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature and American Scholar Ended with the Civil War

What is Transcendentalism? The idea that in determining the ultimate reality of: God the universe the self and other important matters One must transcend, or go beyond everyday human experience in the physical world. Reliance on intuition over logic or reason

In other words… Transcendentalists believed that human beings could intuitively transcend (rise above) the physical world and directly receive higher truths and greater knowledge Essential connection with world Union with God Innate (natural) knowledge

Tenets of Transcendentalism Tolerance (religious; women’s rights, abolitionism) Open-mindedness Intellect (your mind should be developed and explored) Intuition God and the Universe are ONE Nature is to be revered Individuality and self-reliance The over-soul

What the heck is an over-soul?? The belief in the divinity of human beings Oneness with God, nature and all humanity “A universal and benign omnipresence … a God known to men only in moments of mystic enthusiasm, whose visitations leave them altered, self-reliant and purified of petty aims.” The source of fundamental, moral truths.

Anti-Transcendentalism The “equal and opposite” reaction to transcendentalism Explored the darker side of human existence and nature Believed the world was: much more complex than transcendentalists believed incapable of perfection

Two Anti-Transcendentalists Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick) Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of The Scarlet Letter) Believed that the Transcendentalists were living in a fantasy world Wrote about the darker side of life

Themes of Anti-Transcendentalism Guilt, shame, and original sin (who were the original sinners??) God and the Universe are complex and beyond human understanding Dualism: good and evil exist equally and together

Themes of Anti-Transcendentalism, Part 2 Tragic Vision Man is ultimately destined to fail, but it is his duty to find truth In doing so, man succeeds (in the inevitability of ultimate defeat) Western civilization is the cause of evil, injustice, prejudice, and persecution

Anti-Transcendentalism Optimistic Believed in connection to nature Believed in the goodness of man Realistic Believed nature is indifferent to man Believed man capable of sin Gothic Pessimistic and dark Believed nature is malicious Believed man was innately evil