1. Transcendentalism
Belief in a higher level of truth that can be attained through human reasoning
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

2. Can you pronounce it? Can you spell it?
TRANSCENDENTALISM

3. Historical Background
The American Revolution inspired artists to create an American identity separate from England
To a large degree, it was a reaction against the Enlightenment or Age of Reason, especially its emphasis on the power of human reasoning, formal decorum and a suppression of the imagination or “fancy.”

4. Historical Background cont’d...
Radical changes in political life
Industrialization was booming, cities were expanding
The Gold Rush and westward expansion
Technological advances (electric motor, ether anesthesia, telegraph, etc.)

5. Transcendentalism
A branch of Romanticism, along with Dark Romantics and Fireside Poets (which we will cover later)
Began in Germany
Immanuel Kant, philosopher
1700s
Developed in United States in 1836
Transcendental Club in Boston established
Led by Ralph Waldo Emerson

6. Transcendentalist Beliefs!

7. Nature Nature was an escape from the evils and materialism of society
Nature is a manifestation of the divine
One can reach a higher level of spirituality and truth in nature
Nature should remain pure and untainted
Oversoul: Man, universe, and nature are intertwined (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

8. Individualism Rejection of traditional societal beliefs
Belief in being true to oneself and following intuition
Belief in nonconformity
Self-reliance

9. Optimism
Fundamentally optimistic, convinced of the essential goodness of life
This optimism would later be shunned by the Dark Romantics, sometimes called the Anti- Transcendentalists
Belief that people are naturally good

10. Other Main Elements
Suggests that every individual is about to connect to a higher truth through intuition
Civil disobedience
Reject material excess
Support of abolition and women’s rights
Remains very hard to define--a philosophical, literary, artistic, and social movement

11. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
The Father of Transcendentalism

12. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ordained a Unitarian minister in 1829, resigned after 3 years due to theological conflicts
Settled in Concord, Massachusetts in 1836 and founded the Transcendental Club with colleagues
Banned from Harvard for 30 years following his Divinity School address
Expressed Transcendentalist views in his essay, “Nature”
Wrote “Self-Reliance”

13. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Lived the ideas that Emerson espoused
Spent two years living at Walden Pond in order to “live deliberately” a simple life in nature
Wrote “Resistance to Civil Government” and “Waden”
Refused to pay taxes because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery, and he spent a night in jail because of his refusal

14. “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman
How does the speaker feel about science?
Was Walt Whitman a transcendentalist? Why?
How is the poem different from the past works we’ve read? Similar?
What characteristics of Transcendentalism does it have?
Have you ever felt like what you were taught in school could be learned better through experience?
Why is it important to go to school and get real life experience?