2. Ralph Waldo Emerson An American Transcendentalist

3. Background American essayist and poet (1803-1882) Born in Massachusetts from a long line of ministers Father was a Unitarian minister

4. Major Works Include: “Self-Reliance” “The Over-Soul” “Love” “Friendship” Fate Nature

5. Emerson is a key part of the American Transcendentalist Movement, which also included: William Cullen Bryant Margaret Fuller Henry David Thoreau Walt Whitman

6. Major Influences to Transcendentalism: Reacting against Deism (belief in a rational universe, like a clock) Reacting against empirical/rationalist thought Influenced positively by British Romanticists like William Wordsworth, Samuel T. Coleridge, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley Influenced by Hindu and Buddhist thought

7. Definition and Major Beliefs of Transcendentalism

8. Celebration of individualism

9. Beauty and power of Nature

10. Over-soul: connection of all things

11. Intuition over reason

12. Social reform especially anti-slavery and for women’s rights

13. Meditation, not prayer

14. Brought to you with love from your favorite English 11 teacher, Ms. Dwyer