Pham, Remy Bloom, Erin Cerda, Jared Sandoval, René Gherman, Jennifer Maxfield-Kowalski, Hailey Modern Literature, P2

1. The Evolution of Transcendentalism Pham, Remy Bloom, Erin Cerda, Jared Sandoval, René Gherman, Jennifer Maxfield-Kowalski, Hailey Modern Literature, P2

2. Key Elements • Philosophical, religious and literary movement • Search for a liberating philosophy • Against the religious orthodoxy of New England Calvinism. • doctrines: of predestination, absolute sovereignty of God • Encouraged individuals to find “an original relation to the universe” (Emerson) • Criticism of contemporary society for blind conformity HMK

3. When? • Part of the Romantic movement (second half of 18th century) • Originated near Concord, Mass., ~1830 to 1855 • Mellowed, but still continues •  Low point by the beginning of the 19th century • Succeeded by Modernism HMK

4. How Society Influenced Transcendentalism • The turn away from romanticism, & towards Transcendentalism • questioned God • question gov (run by church) • began thinking • thinking turned to writing • writing spun out of control

5. The Transcendentalists Expressed their thoughts through . . . • Literature • People & Works • Stylistic Devices • Art • Lecturing • Ethics • Culture • Spirituality • Politics HMK

6. Characteristics of Transcendentalism • Themes:         Self-Wisdom         Nature and its Meaning         Social Reform

7. The End of Romanticism & A New Beginning • Of the many events, these were most important:  • May 5, 1819: William E. Channing preaches Unitarian Christianity • sparked the spread of new religions • September 1836: Transcscendental Club formed • Included key people such as: Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, William H. Channing, James F. Channing, Sophia Ripley, Margaret Fuller, & more. • September 9, 1836: Emerson’s “Nature” published • Significance: After being published, the younger generations saw him as the next mentor of America • 1837/1838: Emerson speaks at Harvard (“The American Scholar"/ Divinity School Address) • 1845: First series of Emerson's essays published • 1845: Margaret Fuller publishes her “Woman in the Nineteenth Century”

8. The Romantics  . . .   Walt Whitman • Leaves of Grass: stressed individualism that is key to transcendentalism Emily Dickinson • Poems by Emily Dickinson • Poems: Second Series • most poems stress a search for universal truths and investigate the human condition William Wordsworth • Lyrical Ballads:considered the start of the American Romanticism movement Bloom

9. . . . and the Transcendentalists • German transcendentalism (more so “idealism” linked with romanticism and rev. politics of Enlightenment) • Immanuel Kant • Root of transcendentalism • Samuel Taylor Coleridge / Thomas Carlyle • Ralph Waldo Emerson • American lecturer, essayist, and poet, leader of Transcendentalist movement • seen as a champion of individualism • Nature (1836): basis of American Transcendentalism • Henry David Thoreau • Walden, simplicity & natural surroundings • Essay, Civil Disobedience, resistance to civil government moral opposition to an unjust state. Pham

10. Who (Cont. . . ) • Margaret Fuller • The Dial w/ Emerson; publication of many transcendentalist's works • Journalist, critic, and woman's rights advocate • Elizabeth Palmer Peabody • First English-language kindergarten in the United States • Record of a School, outlining the plan of the school and Alcott's philosophy of early childhood education • Alcott was who she learned teaching from • George Ripley • Founder of Unitarian community; • Editor for Harper’s Magazine; monthly mag. of lit., politics, culture, $$, & arts Pham

11. Stylistic Devices of the Romantic and Transcendent Eras • The "Emersonian" tradition of romantic transcendentalism  • experimentation in writing • (E. E. Cummings used it!) • E. E. Cummings' "use of low dialect to create satire and the visual 'shaping' of poems." •  Symbolism / and myth for Man and Nature • desired to express the "inexpressible"  • importance of the individual, the unique, even the eccentric • rejected absolute systems, whether of philosophy or religion (acknowledged the hypocrisy of the churches) Pham

12. Romantic & Transcendentalist Artists John Trumbull Albert Bierstadt   Thomas Cole Gherman

13. Time Line (cont'd...) • Spring 1845: Thoreau begins his stay at Walden Pond • December 25, 1846: Emerson’s poems Published • May 1849: Henry David Thoreau publishes Resistance to Cicil Government leter know as Cicil Disobedience in Elizabeth Peachbodys Aesthetic Papers • 1854: Publication of Walden (aka: Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau • Significance: It showed what many transcendentalists were influenced by, the war. • February, 1862 Julia Ward Howe published “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in the Atlantic Monthly • A work that: was considered to be the most important song in the civil war • Death of Thoreau: May 6th, 1862 • Death of Emerson: April 27th, 1882  Cerda

14. The Ethics of Romanticism vs. Transcendentalism •  Romanticist Ethics • profound engagement with ethical questions • impelled by a will to value in the face of a prevailing reduction of value •  Transcendentalist Ethics • transcend the limits of human sense-experience • Emerson, reason is "the highest faculty of the soul . . . it never reasons, never proves, it simply perceives; it is vision" • spiritual and transcendental > material and empirical HMK

15. Culture of Transcendentalism • The Romantic culture is testified by those of the Transcendentalists  . . .  • Are strong believers in power of the individual and divine message • Study religious science, divine science and unity Sandoval

16. Culture of Transcendentalism (Cont...) • Wanted people to understand the circle of life/concept of it Transcendentalists . . . • Influenced Literature and Philosophy  • Used lots of jazz in their music • Used meditation for relaxation • Dominated thoughts of American Renaissance Sandoval

17. Transcendentalist Views on Spiritually • Departed from orthodox Calvinism •  believed in importance of human striving rather than Puritan inescapable human depravity • emphasized unity rather than Trinity of God (Unitarian) • Jesus, inferior to God but greater than humans • some believe Jesus to be human but have special athority (Theologian Joseph Priestly) • Jesus saves humans from sin, not just punishment ( leading preacher William Ellery Channing) •  Channing said that humans should partake of Divinity so that "they may have a growing likeness to the Supreme Being" Gherman

18. Intellect on Transcendentalism • Part of  God is in each Man • We learn through our Devine Intelect • Understand what is right in the world; understand what is good • We are divine animals • There is a direct line of communication between God and Man • The basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge of what we obtain • We have the capability to acknoledge our own souls, to understand our existing •  We have the ability to know of the phyical world Sandoval

19. Transcendentalist View on Politics • Utopia: include Alcott's Fruitlands, the Transcendentalists Club's Brook Farm, and Thoreau's cabin at Walden • Transcendentalists dissatisfied with society, focusing on American government policies • These include the treatment of Native Americans,the war with Mexico, and slavery Bloom

20. Transcendentalist View on Politics • Transcendentalists believed in the abolition of slavery • Thoreau wrote Resistance to Civil Government in 1849 • Thoreau: nonviolent action (not paying taxes) could promote change • Civil disobedience could change the government • Citizens should not  recognize a government that passes unjust laws  • Citizens should not follow the unjust laws Bloom

21. So why is this era important?  • Individualism • New views  •             ... & they were being heard! HMK

22. websites http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/ http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/amtrans.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism http://www.transcendentalists.com/ http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html