American Transcendentalism Radical Romantics

Birth of American Literature Rebuking tradition: what is expressed, how it is expressed Philosophical Rebellion of Americans

Romanticism Attitude toward nature, humanity and society that emphasizes individualism and freedom.  A celebration of individualism  A reverence for nature  The rebel (individual vs. society)  A concern with the impact of new technology  A fascination with death and the supernatural  An impulse toward reform NOT LOVE

Transcendentalism A literary movement that suggests the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that is knowable through intuition by transcending the scientific.

Inspirations Kant  Mysticism: the belief in realities or truths beyond the present reach of reason.  direct communication or spiritual intuition of divine truth; A transcendental union of soul or mind with the divine reality or divinity Reaction to Locke  Empiricism: sense experience is the only source of knowledge.

Catalysts Secularization--Science/Tech: the activity of changing something (art or education or society or morality etc.) so it is no longer under the control or influence of religion Industrialization: War of 1812

Defining: Transcendentalism “Basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses, reason, logic, or laws of science. We learn these truths through our intuition, our “Divine Intellect.”

Focus Concepts Self-Reliance Intuition Carpe Diem Nature Simplicity Nonconformity

Transcendental Beliefs: Self-Reliance  Autonomous: (of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment  True to own inner perception or intuition If I “know” it is truth, then it is truth.

Transcendental Beliefs: Intuition NATURAL STATE OF MAN--Moral Society pollutes man.

Transcendental Beliefs: Intuition The Divine Intellect—part of God in each man; intuition; innate understanding of what is right and good; direct line of communication between God and man Divinity within Man

Transcendental Beliefs: Intuition OVERSOUL:  man, universe, and nature are intertwined  Universal soul that permeates all beings “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”- Nature

Transcendental Beliefs: Intuition INTUITION over Reason Individual Intuition: highest form of knowledge: the creative insight and interpretation of one's own inner voices

Transcendental Concept: Carpe Diem Latin “Seize the Day”—TODAY “Act in the Living Present” Break away from tradition Think independently

Transcendental Beliefs Reverence of NATURE  Nature is inherently good—purest creation  “The foregoing generations beheld God and Nature face to face; we—through their eyes. Why should we not also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”- Emerson

Simplicity Making simpler or easier or reduce in complexity or extent

Criticism of Technology “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end…We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” (19)—Thoreau

Transcendentalism Basic belief: “By meditating, by communing with nature through art, man transcends his senses and finds beauty, goodness, and truth”

References hee/American%20Literature/Transcendent alism/Transcendentalism%20notes.htm hee/American%20Literature/Transcendent alism/Transcendentalism%20notes.htm /chap4/4intro.html /chap4/4intro.html lism/ideas/introduction.html lism/ideas/introduction.html