1. A Quick Overview of Romanticism and Transcendentalism
Poe, Irvin, Hawthorn, Emerson,
Thoreau, Whitman, etc..

2. Romanticism
A literary movement originally “invented” by European writers that was then adopted and popularized by American writers in the early 1800s
Goes hand in hand with transcendentalism (transcendentalism sprung from romanticism)

3. Romanticism
Romanticism values the imagination over reason and intuition and fact
Romantics value nature and its "healing powers"
Nature is held up over civilization and popular society and its views

4. Romanticism
Romantic writers often focus on fantastic aspects (i.e. “fantasy” in the sense of unreal) of human experience
Some important writers who incorporate romanticism in their writing include Edgar Allan Poe, Nathanial Hawthorne, and Washington Irving

5. Transcendentalism
A philosophy that was centered in Concord, Mass. in the 19th century.
Transcendentalists were a generation of well educated people who lived in the decades before the Civil War who attempted to create a uniquely American body of literature.
As America itself had become independent in the late 1700s, they believed that we should have literary independence - writings that were clearly different and unique from anything English, France, or any other European nation.
But this philosophy involved more than literature - it also marked a dramatic shift in the American style of thinking as well as in the American (further away from the Puritanical ways).
Most transcendentalists became involved in social reform as well, especially anti-slavery and women’s rights.

6. Transcendentalism Important characteristics of transcendentalism:
Individuals must rely on their own intuition and feelings
Based on free-thinking and stresses that in order to gain knowledge you must rely on experience
Anti-establishment - a transcendentalist disregards external authority and tradition through non-violent ways (civil disobedience)
Anti-scientific rationalism - believe instead in "spiritual truths“
Rather than practice organized religion, transcendentalists believed in a more individual experience and the concept of an “Oversoul” (not necessarily a specific “God”)
"Trust Thyself" - Emerson's motto

7. Transcendentalism Transcendentalism in a nutshell
Be self-reliant, act according to your personal beliefs rather than blindly following rules/laws of society, don’t be afraid of being an outcast or seen as "abnormal", etc…

8. Transcendentalism Two most important transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson ("father of transcendentalism") and Henry David Thoreau

9. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
American poet, essayist, and philosopher
Like many writers, Emerson had a rather rocky childhood and overall life
In 1832, Emerson began to formulate his own philosophy - transcendentalism - which caught on with many artists and writers and signaled a shift in American thinking/writing
Emerson wrote based on feelings and intuition rather than logical form
Very much of an optimist (unlike the Puritans, Hawthorne, Poe, etc…)
Emerson believed that each person possesses, within him or herself, the means to all knowledge

10. Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
American essayist, poet, and naturalist
Thoreau originally was a teacher then later became friends with Emerson in Concord and became part of the transcendental movement
Thoreau was always thought of as an outcast, an "oddball" or "weirdo"
Thoreau was the most active and politically minded transcendentalist. For instance, he dropped out of society and lived completely off the land for over two years (at Walden Pond). His writing about this experience is his most lasting work - Walden