The Transcendental Movement
The term transcendentalism as used in American literature can be defined as a
belief in the innate divinity of every man and faith in his capability to
understand immortality, the soul, and God through intuition rather than through
pure reason. The Transcendentalists considered human nature divine. Since the
secret voice of God is within man, he has no need to obey any other command.
He can trust himself.
Transcendentalism emerged in New England in 1815 with the liberal preaching
of William Ellery Channing and reached its flowering in the late 1830’s and 40’s
with the publication of Emerson’s Nature and other essays. Among the major
ideas that the Transcendentalists emphasized were the desire to live close to
nature, the dignity of manual labor, the essential unity of all religions, as spirit of
tolerance and optimism, a defiance of tradition, a personal relationship with
God, a belief in democracy, and a disregard for external authority.
Characteristics of Transcendentalism
1. Sense knowledge is unreliable
2. All reality is in the long run spiritual
3. The only apt instrument for contacting the world outside is the mind
4. By the mind, they do not mean the reasoning process (also unreliable) but
a special faculty which puts them immediately in touch with truth
without any other aid or contact.
5. All reality is One. (This Oneness is called God or the Oversoul).
6. There is no distinction between God, men, and things for they are all
participants of the One.
7. Transcendentalism came to mean inspiration or intuition as a method of
arriving at truth.
The Flowering of New England (1829 – 1861)
Era began with hope of realizing the high promise of American individualism –
moved to Civil War
I. Historical Changes [beginning of Jackson’s administration to Civil
War]
1. frontier pushed to Rockies, then to Pacific (gold rush)
2. America’s population which had doubled between 1790 and 1830,
doubled again before 1870
3. Structure of nation changing – its basic values had been developed
in a context of farms, villages, small cities. Now America had to
face the new concentration of population and economic power
created by industrial and urban society
4. Now had a mass society – in which many were prevented from
self-development because of poverty or lack of education
5. A growing sense of nationhood
6. With the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency – the
common man became involved in politics
II. Two Forces Propelling America [ 1 dissatisfaction with the present 2.
optimism about the future]
A. Reasons for Optimism
1. based on progress in science and technology (America
excelled in practical application of scientific knowledge {
ex. Machinery (reaper) and other agricultural machines –
it helped open up the West to farming) New roads,
canals, railroads reduced distances
2. Railroads – center of expanding economy (10,000 miles
crisscrossed eastern states by 1860)
3. Telegraph – helped bind the nation together (by 1861
reached CA)
B. Reasons for Dissatisfaction
1. Effects of Industrial Revolution
a. skilled craftsmen were replaced by machines often
operated by unskilled women and children
b. growth of ugly mill towns
c. child labor
2. Existence of Slavery in the South [Slavery was difficult to
reconcile with Declaration of Independence “all men
created equal”
C. Reform Measures (taken as result of the above)
1. Creation of some 58 “Utopian Communities” trying to be
a model of social perfection
2. Educational reforms
a. Public Education – before 1800 no state had a
public education system, by 1860 every state had
tax-supported public schools
b. Spread of Education – rapid growth of
newspapers, libraries, museums
c. Lyceums System – an association of citizens who
invited prominent intellectuals to give public
lectures
3. Women’s Rights
a. Women had been considered minors and under
control of fathers or husbands
1. could not own property
2. could not sign a contract
3. could not vote
b. with growth of education (public school system)
women were trained as teachers. As a result,
opportunities began to open for them
c. by 1840’s Women’s Rights had become a cause
4. Slavery – most disruptive issue of this period
a. Northerners sought outright abolition of slavery
b. Many writers became involved in Lowell wrote,
for abolitionist newspapers, Whittier devoted
himself to the clause
The era had begun with hope of realizing the high promise of American
individualism, but the conflicts that accompanied growing materialism and
reform led away to Civil War
III: Literature in the American Renaissance
A. This period (1830-60) called American Renaissance because of the high
quality of literary achievements of this period.
B. Reasons for contributing to this Renaissance
1. technological growth in publishing
2. increased size of reading public
3. significant contributions were made by a group of New
England writers (Emerson – Great champion of Am. Lit).
IV: The Transcendental Movement
A. The Transcendentalists [Emerson and Thoreau – Concord, MA)
1. Transcendental Club formed by Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret
Fuller, and Theodore Parker; gathered for moral and
philosophical discussions
2. The Deal – grew out of Transcendental Club; most influential
magazine of the time edited by Emerson and Fuller
3. Brook Farm – experimented in communal living; grew out of
Transcendental Club
B. Transcendentalism – a state of mind, a set of attitudes about man;
intellectual movement that encompasses religion, literature and
philosophy
1. Definition: {Transcendentalism is the view that the basic truths
of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from out
senses. Senses teach us facts and laws of the physical world and
through our capacity to reason we learn to use the information
and create science and technology.}
2. Basic Beliefs:
a. Basic truths can only be reached through instinct and
intuition (Intuition – the highest power of the soul – is
never reasons, never proves, but it perceives) Ex. It is
through intuition that we know the existence of our
own souls.
b. To arrive at the truth man must transcend (go beyond)
what his senses or books tell him. He must listen to his
inner soul (intuition)
c. Like Puritans, transcendentalists affirmed the
individual’s ability to experience God first hand. Unlike
the Puritan’s, however, they believed this ability was
given to everyone and not the “elect” few.
d. Heart of their writings based on the idea of the “Over
Soul” – the spiritual unity of all forms of beings with
God, humanity and nature sharing a universal soul.
e. From Romanticism, Transcendentalists borrowed such
ideas as value of individualism and goodness of the
natural world.
f. Since nature shares with humanity in the universal soul
– all of nature is significant
g. Transcendentalists studied nature as a means of self-
knowledge (delving deeply into mysteries of human
personality)
General achievement of Transcendentalists – to relate all individuals to
both the natural world and their own inner worlds.
V: The Anti-Transcendentalists
A. The Brahmins (Boston and Cambridge)
[Name from Brahmin – member of highest caste of Hindu society
1. James Russell Lowell
2. Henry Longfellow
3. Oliver Wendell Holmes
(Called Brahmins because they were socially important men
for whom literature was an accomplishment as well as a
vocation)
a. All were polished poets (popular in England)
b. Each had successful careers outside of literature:
Longfellow – foreign language teacher
Lowell – teacher, diplomat
Holmes – scientist, doctor, teacher of anatomy
c. Poetry valued for moral lessons it taught
d. Won European respect for American Literature
B. The Dissenters (Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville)
1. stressed the presence of evil in the universe (contrary to
optimism of Transcendentalists)
2. concerned with giving due weight to “power of
blackness” Evil
3. in their writing they wrestled with the central riddle of
existence – the presence of evil in a world of good
intentions
4. also pointed to the discrepancy between American ideals
and realities
Conclusion:
With the coming of the Civil War, the Flowering of New England, the
joyous period in the intellectual and cultural life of the nation was over
Hawthorne’s and Melville’s insistence of the power of evil seemed to have
greater relevance than the hopefulness and optimism of Emerson and Thoreau
Fireside Poets:
Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, Whittier – called Fireside Poets. This fireside
poetry dealt principally with nature, the family and mythical material.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (call to individual greatness)
(1803 – 1882)
As a lecturer and writer he inspired generation after generation teaching them to
search for greatness within themselves.
Background:
Born in Boston – son of Unitarian minister; fatherless at early age
Entered Harvard at age of 14
Entered ministry – 3 years ago at age of 29 resigned it
Went to Europe – there he met Wordsworth and Earlyle
Views:
He condemned systems of thought which forced men to intellectual
conformity
“Trust thyself” one of his mottos
He was not seeking to formulate a precisely logical system. Instead, he sought
to arouse men to their own capacities and to make each man recognize that
there was within himself something of God.
While in Europe, Emerson was greatly influenced by Thomas Earlyle’s
preoccupation with individual greatness and search for a positive attitude
toward life had a lasting influence on Emerson.
Intellectual accomplishment – to overturn the 18th century view of nature as a
machine and of God as master machine. Instead, in his writings he set forth
the following points
1. that the only way to God is through trusting in the divinity that is in
all of us
2. he believed that Nature, like man’s individual mind is part of one’s
spiritual reality which he called the over-soul or God
3. Since the individual and nature are both parts of a single, spiritual
whole, men can find the way to God by opening themselves to the
benign influences of nature.
4. he is a transcendentalist – a believer in and a seeker for a higher,
deeper truth than that which is revealed by the senses or logical
analysis
5. he held the self up as the basis of morality, as superior to society and
as the ultimate standard of value (What he means is the essential self
which is each person’s share of the Over-Sould)
6. he believes individualism was a step toward the recognition of God
within us
In his earlier life he had been widely feared as a disturber of established ideas
and institutions. His emphasis on the direct working of divine inspiration and
essential divinity of all men disturbed people of the older generation who
thought that Emerson weakened the authority of the church and threatened the
stability of society.
Style:
1. Method of writing – not based on logic
2. Cared little for structure
3. Not concerned with unity in the paragraph
4. Uses brilliant illustrations
5. His method – to state a half-truth and state it violently [method of a poetic
mind]
6. Often remember Emerson’s sentences than the implication of his work as a
whole.
Not an original philosopher, but rather a moral teacher: (1) life of the spirit is
important (2) a man is to be a man – must be a nonconformist
Henry David Thoreau [Naturalist / Moral Philosopher]
(1817 – 1862)
Basic Belief: He set himself to realize Emerson’s ideas in practice
“Communion with nature – basis of his life and writing”
Believed nature is a reflection of an inner spiritual reality like Emerson
His life was spent in the pursuit of the essentials of reality and of experiences
that would bring him close to these essentials.
He went to Walden so he could strip his life of inessential things. In proportion
as a man simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear les complex. Not
quite the non-conformist that Emerson was in his pursuit of his dreams.
Aside {Graduated from Harvard, but when he could not make it as a writer, he
worked at temporary jobs (Ex. Emerson’s gardener and handyman) If he could
make a years earnings in 6 weeks – then he would stop working}
Emerson – was greatest influence on his life. He encouraged him to keep a
regular journal and write essays and poetry.
Literary Contributions:
1. Helped edit the transcendentalists journal Deal
2. “Civil Disobedience” – Essay written while he was at Walden. To show
his disapproval of the Mexican War and slavery, he refuses to pay war
taxes and as a result spent a night in jail. He wrote “Civil Disobedience”
which is a statement of the individual’s moral responsibility to resist
immoral acts of government.
3. Walden (1854) the supreme work in transcendentalist writing; subject: the
relation of the order and beauty of nature to the human mind and spirit.
Walden (1854)
Thoreau rebelled against society itself and went to Walden Pond and lived there
for 2 years. When he had proved that a man did not have to be a slave to routine,
that life could be made more simple, he resumed his life in society. The Walden
Pond episode was his most important experience.
Walden is the story of Thoreau’s experiment in living which he conducted for 2
years and 2 months in a one room house built by himself. Cost of venture $28.
Here he made first hand observations of nature without cutting himself off
completely from society. No hermit – he enjoyed visitors.
Walden covers three large areas:
1. It is an account of Thoreau’s daily tasks – working, planting, catching fish
barehanded, cultivating the land, taking walks
2. It is the story of his close observations of nature – the pond in summer and
winter, the wild animals, birds, plants, ants, storms
3. It is a study of man, his society and his universe: man’s unpredictable,
paradoxical way of complicating his existence and society’s change from
naturalness and contentment to mechanization and conformity brought
about by the Industrial Revolution.
Thoreau does not urge each man to live in the woods, but that each man learn
what is his own good life, to find out and pursue his own way not a meaningless
way derived from ancestors or contemporaries.
Chief principle demonstrated in Walden is still applicable today simplify –
separate the essential from the trivial that surrounds us