1. Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

2. American between 1830 - 1850 A Relatively New Nation A time of self-definition Effort to distinguish itself from Europe Economic and Social Changes Industrialization and urbanization Factories with poor working conditions A new breed of materialism

3. Transcendentalism An American philosophical movement that influenced literature (Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman) and art (The Hudson River School) A protest against American society at that time An offshoot of European Romanticism (Goethe, Coleridge, Wordsworth)

4. Man is inherently good Society corrupts man’s goodness Conformity is death Rely on your intuition The Oversoul connects God, man, and nature Find spiritual transcendence in nature Tenets of Transcendentalism

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) An essayist, poet, and speaker Schoolmaster, ordained minister, abolitionist Writes “Nature” and “Self- Reliance” Deeply spiritual but leaves the church Friend of Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne

6. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Emerson, the movement’s founding philosopher Thoreau, its most devoted practitioner Lives for two years in the woods on Emerson’s land Poet, essayist, naturalist, abolitionist Writes Walden and “Civil Disobedience”

8. Quickwrite: Could you live here alone for two years? Why/Why not? What would you miss? What would you enjoy?

9. Homework: Find a song with lyrics that express Transcendentalist beliefs. Write down the artist, title, and the lyrics that exhibit Transcendentalist thought.