1. Transcendentalism: The Spirit of Individualism
“Every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. Transcendentalism: An intellectual movement, NOT religious.
A movement of philosophy first, then literature.
Very beginning of Romantic movement.

3. Transcendentalists Beliefs:
Nature and Ultimate Reality:
Spirituality: Humans could transcend experiences and go to a spiritual / personal revelation.
Eminence: Whatever is divine is everywhere throughout the world and comes from a divine power.
Omnipresence: God could be in human beings. Humans share in the divinity because He is in all of us. All people are connected and part of the same.
Unity: Everything is united because of God.

4. Transcendentalists Beliefs:
Assumptions of Human Knowledge
Sense and Understanding: Sense is what we get from the material world. Understanding is putting it all together and interpreting it.
Intuition and Reason: Our intuition gives us knowledge of spiritual reality. Our reason will then explain it.
Correspondences: Since the divine is everywhere and in everyone, we need to go to nature in order to see what is really reality.

5. More Transcendentalists Beiliefs:
Were not a unified group. NOT everyone was in agreement with ALL transcendental beliefs.
They DID believe that through Nature we are connected by God.
Life was an inevitable process / progress.
Man had free-will. It is man’s duty to demonstrate God’s presence by doing things the best one could.
The INDIVIDUAL person is what is important!

6. Popular Transcendentalists:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Most popular and famous member of the Fireside Poets.
Wrote poems that were morally uplifting and often sentimental.
Classmate to Nathaniel Hawthorne.
College Professor at 18 – had to create own textbook.
Able to speak and read 10 languages.
Respected all over the world.

7. Popular Transcendentalists:
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Leading person in Transcendentalism.
Poet, Essayist, Lecturer.
Father died when he was 8. Mother struggled to raise 5 boys.
Attended Harvard at 14 years old.
Became a Unitarian minister in 1829, but resigned in 1832 due to religious doubt and wife’s death.
Revelation in Paris – There is a connection between People and Nature.
Internationally known by 1840 – as a philosopher.

8. Popular Transcendentalists:
Henry David Thoreau
Graduated from Harvard with Honors.
Follower of Emerson (who helped publish Thoreau’s writings)
Generally unrecognized (only 2 books published during lifetime).
Careful observer and a deep thinker.
Lived by his own values, not society’s.
Abolitionist (slavery).
Had a direct influence on many people.

9. Popular Transcendentalists:
Walt Whitman
Very familiar with country life as well as city life.
Jobs ranged from school teacher to carpenter to nurse during the Civil War.
Most recognized work – Leaves of Grass (rewritten, revised, and expanded NINE times).
Leaves of Grass regarded as greatest, most influential book of poetry in American literature.
Praised by Emerson.