Transcendentalism

(Late 1820s to 1850 or so)

Important events & influences during Transcendentalist Period

• Slavery & The Civil War

• The Mexican-American War

• Appreciation for Nature

The Hudson River painters and The Luminists

Thomas Cole

Another Thomas Cole painting – notice how humans are in harmony with nature

Kindred SpiritsBy Asher Durand

What does “Transcendentalism” mean?

• There is an ideal spiritual state which “transcends” (goes beyond) the physical and empirical (what you can know intellectually).

• Transcendentalism had different meanings for each person involved in the movement.

Defining Characteristics -- What did the

Transcendentalists believe?• Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was

the inherent goodness of both people and nature.• Transcendentalists also believed that society and

its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual.

• They had faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community could be formed.

Basic Beliefs

An individual is the spiritual center of the universe, and in an individual can be found the clue to nature, history and, ultimately, the cosmos itself.

It is not a rejection of the existence of God, but a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual.

Cultural Influences• All the transcendentalists worked to end

American slavery. (believed in social justice & equality.)

• They questioned the morality of some aspects of government. (Thoreau’s famous essay on “Civil Disobedience”; right to protest against government”)

• Believed in meditation and communing with nature (environmentalist movement & meditation practices)

Who were the some of the important

Transcendentalists?

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• 1803-1882• “Father of

Transcendentalism” -- the thinker!

• Unitarian minister• Poet and essayist• Founded the

Transcendental Club• Banned from Harvard for 40

years following his Divinity School address

• Supporter of abolitionism

Henry David Thoreau

• 1817-1862• Schoolteacher, essayist,

poet• The mentee of Emerson

– the “doer”• Most famous for Walden

and Civil Disobedience• Influenced environmental

movement• Supporter of abolitionism

Amos Bronson Alcott

• 1799-1888• Teacher and writer• Founder of Temple

School and Fruitlands• Introduced art, music,

P.E., nature study, and field trips; banished corporal punishment

• Father of novelist Louisa May Alcott

Walt Whitman – Focus Poet

-- A poet, essayist & journalist-- Sometimes referred to as “The Father Of Free Verse”-- Wrote openly about death and sexuality-- Bridged the gap between Transcendentalism and Realism

Walt Whitman poems

• “O Captain! My Captain!”

• “I Sing the Body Electric” (stanzas 1 & 2)

• “There Was a Child Went Forth”

• “Song of the Open Road”

• “Give me the Splendid, Silent Sun”