The American Renaissance and Transcendentalism

By the mid- 19th century, people were wondering if America could produce great writing Search for American Literary Identity

Hawthorne & Melville F Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville became friends F Saw a dark side to human existence: sought to record this aspect of human nature in their works F Melville wrote a patriotic essay urging Americans to create their own literary identity F Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville became friends F Saw a dark side to human existence: sought to record this aspect of human nature in their works F Melville wrote a patriotic essay urging Americans to create their own literary identity

Declaration of Literary Independence “American Renaissance” - Means rebirth - Describes the explosion of American literary genius “American Renaissance” - Means rebirth - Describes the explosion of American literary genius

Pioneers of American Literature F Nathaniel Hawthorne F Herman Melville F Ralph Waldo Emerson F Henry David Thoreau F Nathaniel Hawthorne F Herman Melville F Ralph Waldo Emerson F Henry David Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson F Inspired reform movements to F Improve public education F End slavery F Elevate status of women F Improve social conditions F Inspired utopean projects - plans for creating a perfect society F Inspired reform movements to F Improve public education F End slavery F Elevate status of women F Improve social conditions F Inspired utopean projects - plans for creating a perfect society

Transcendentalism F Transcend: to exist above and apart from the material world F By meditation, by communing with nature, and through work and art, man could transcend his senses and attain an understanding of beauty, goodness, and truth F Transcend: to exist above and apart from the material world F By meditation, by communing with nature, and through work and art, man could transcend his senses and attain an understanding of beauty, goodness, and truth

F Puritans F Jonathan Edwards: God reveals himself through the physical world F Romantics F William Cullen Bryant: death is simply part of the life cycle F Puritans F Jonathan Edwards: God reveals himself through the physical world F Romantics F William Cullen Bryant: death is simply part of the life cycle Roots of Transcendentalism

A Transcendentalist’s View of the World F Everything in the world, including human beings, is a reflection of the Divine Soul. Each individual soul is made up of the same stuff as the universal soul (kind of like the idea of The Force in Star Wars)

A Transcendentalist’s View of the World F The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world (the spiritual world is simply a reflection of the natural world and vice- versa) F People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or their own souls F The physical facts of the natural world are a doorway to the spiritual or ideal world (the spiritual world is simply a reflection of the natural world and vice- versa) F People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit revealed in nature or their own souls

A Transendentalist’s View of the World F Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition (like Romanticism, the individual is the most important) F Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality (like Romanticism) F Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition (like Romanticism, the individual is the most important) F Spontaneous feelings and intuition are superior to deliberate intellectualism and rationality (like Romanticism)

Emerson & Transcendentalism F Emerson’s utopian group known as “The Transcendental Club” F Most influential transcendentalist F “Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact” F Emerson’s utopian group known as “The Transcendental Club” F Most influential transcendentalist F “Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact”

Emerson & Transcendentalism F Intuition over logic F Intuition = our capacity to know things immediately through emotions rather than reasoning F Contrasts with rational thinking of someone like Benjamin Franklin F Opposed deism (the idea that the universe was rationally designed by divinity who endowed humanity with reason) F Intuition over logic F Intuition = our capacity to know things immediately through emotions rather than reasoning F Contrasts with rational thinking of someone like Benjamin Franklin F Opposed deism (the idea that the universe was rationally designed by divinity who endowed humanity with reason)

Emerson & Transcendentalism F Optimism & Idealism F God can be found directly in nature and the individual - discover this, and you will find meaning in life F Natural events can be explained on a spiritual level (think “Thanatopsis”) F Optimism & Idealism F God can be found directly in nature and the individual - discover this, and you will find meaning in life F Natural events can be explained on a spiritual level (think “Thanatopsis”)

Thoreau & Transcendentalism F Stayed secluded in a cabin at Walden Pond in Massachusetts to rediscover the grandeur and heroism of a simple life led close to nature F Wrote in a style that imitated nature F Walden is one of the most well-known works produced in America F Stayed secluded in a cabin at Walden Pond in Massachusetts to rediscover the grandeur and heroism of a simple life led close to nature F Wrote in a style that imitated nature F Walden is one of the most well-known works produced in America

Thoreau & Transcendentalism F Protested Mexican War F Refused to pay poll tax F Radical abolitionist F “Resistance to Civil Government” F Essay on passive resistance F Inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. F Protested Mexican War F Refused to pay poll tax F Radical abolitionist F “Resistance to Civil Government” F Essay on passive resistance F Inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thoreau & Transcendentalism “I should have told them at once that I was a Transcendentalist - that would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations."

Sources F Lit Book p , F scend.html scend.html F entalism/ entalism/ F F Lit Book p , F scend.html scend.html F entalism/ entalism/ F