New England Renaissance

1840 – 1855

A Cultural Rebirth Americans were no longer

struggling for subsistence. People had time to think, to

create. Writers gained power and a voice

in the new culture.

Waning European Influence American writers tried new forms

and new ideas for literature. They rejected the idea they had

to follow European “rules.”

Interest in Public Affairs Writers continued with the belief that

they should try to improve society. Growing problems in American culture

Slavery Working conditions Political corruption Mexican war

Transcendentalism System of thought which

developed from Romanticism. Like Romanticism, it included:

A focus on the individual Passionate idealism A love of nature

Transcendentalism Also a return to Puritan ideals

because its adherents shared A utopian vision Great faith and moral enthusiasm An eagerness to reform society

Influences Transcendentalists were

influenced by European philosophers such as Immanuel Kant.

Transcendentalists were reacting to emphasis on the ideas of John Locke.

Transcendental Interpretation The mind can learn spiritual truth

Without using the senses Without reasoning through past

authority Without ratiocination (exact thinking)

This belief in the mind’s capacity is the embodiment of democracy and the Protestant Reformation.

Main Principles All creation essentially united – no

competition between man and man, or man and nature

Humanity is essentially good Insight (or intuition) is better than

logic or experience for understanding spiritual truths

More Principles To transcend is to rise above or

go beyond the limits of something.

We can transcend to a higher spiritual plane – go beyond the limits of ordinary life.

We transcend through intuition, not reason.

More Principles We transcend by learning from

and living in harmony with nature. We transcend as individuals. Everyone is capable of

transcending. After transcending, we will want

to do the right and moral thing.

Notable Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo

Emerson Henry David

Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 Educated at

Harvard. A Unitarian

minister like his father, until he resigned at 29.

After that, became a writer.

Emerson’s Ideas Learned the principles of

transcendentalism from Carlyle, Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Otherwise, widely read… Plato Montaigne Berkeley, Hume and Locke Swedenborg

Important Works Nature (1836) expresses basic

ideas of his philosophy, and love of nature.

The American Scholar (1837) applies Transcendentalism to American culture and politics.

Essays (1841), including “Self-Reliance” and “The Over-Soul”

From “Self-Reliance” Nothing is at last sacred but the

integrity of your own mind. A foolish consistency is the

hobgoblin of little minds… With consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.

From “Self-Reliance” How does (and should) a person

define his/her place in society? What are the two major barriers

to self-reliance? What are the implications of self-

reliance for daily life?

Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 Born in Concord,

Mass. Educated at Harvard.

“…a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher to boot.”

A Different Drummer Lived an unconventional life

according to unconventional principles.

Widely read, but hardly left Concord.

Reluctant to work for a living at a prosaic job – instead was Emerson’s handyman.

Civil Disobedience Went to jail because he refused to

pay a poll tax, as a protest against the Mexican War.

Spent two years in a hut on Walden Pond; formed the basis for Walden.

Died of tuberculosis, having published very little.

An American Scholar Some said Thoreau was the

American Scholar Emerson had called for in his famous lecture:

“The office of the scholar is to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.”

From Walden Uses many aphorisms – terse

formulation of a truth or sentiment – to express ideas.

Ex: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

American Style Aphorism makes Thoreau’s ideas

– though they are revolutionary – seem sensible and even “folksy”.

An element of American style, to explain complex ideas using simple, down-to-earth language.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:class.maclay.org/class/rparks/ Presentations/New_England_Renaissance.ppt

Bibliography Bickman, Martin. “Transcendental Ideas: Definitions.” U. of Colorado.

2003. December 1, 2004. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/ transcendentalism/ideas/definitionbickman.html

“Emerson, Ralph Waldo.” Hart and Leininger. 197-98. “Fuller, Margaret.” Hart and Leininger. 234. Hart, James D. and Phillip W. Leininger, eds. Oxford Companion to

American Literature. 6E. New York: OUP, 1995. “Thoreau, Henry David.” Hart and Leininger. 662-63. “Transcendentalism.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia

Britannica Online School Edition. 1 Dec. 2004 <http://school.eb.com/eb/ article?tocId=9073185>.

Woodlief, Ann. “Points and questions to consider as you read ‘Self-Reliance’.” Virginia Commonwealth U. 2003. 4 December 2004. http://www.vcu.edu/ engweb/eng372/selfques.htm