UNIT IV: TRANSCENDENTALIS

MAmerica’s First Identity Crisis

1840 - 1870

How it FitsRomanticism 1800-1840

Literary Nationalism Transcendentalism

1840-1870Realism1870-1900

Literary Nationalism (1800 - 1840)

Established national identity Heroes (e.g., Natty Bumpo) Anti-heroes (e.g., Tom Walker) Local color (regional dialect, setting)

National identity rooted in:1. B. Franklin’s Virtues and the American

Dream2. Puritanism – Work Ethic and City Upon a

Hill3. Democracy

Literary Nationalism (1800 - 1840)

Influenced by European Romanticism Truth in absolutes

Heroes = Idealized; impossibly perfect; extraordinary people in extraordinary situations

Anti-Heroes/Enemies = pure evil Morality, thus, is absolute

All good or all evil; no gray area Emphasis

Extraordinary people in extraordinary situations Often stresses the past Glorifies nature – its appearance and grandeur

Literary Nationalism (1800 - 1840)

1800 - 1840 : America’s obedient schoolboy years

Historical Context Nothing seemed to deter America’s growth in the

nineteenth century. Geographically – America was pushing frontiers to

the Pacific Politically – it was finding its identity as a

democratic government divided into three branches

Socially – it was in a fervent state of development, constantly creating and developing new communities with its ever-expanding boundaries.

Historical Context, cont. … Such growth and advancement imbued

Americans with a collective sense of optimism and belief in progress.

Americans knew they had a special place in history

That feeling pervaded everything they thought, did, or believed.

Historical Context Policies adopted in this period placed

emphasis on energy, enterprise and personal achievement.

Laissez-faire (“leave it alone”) capitalism reigned. (recall reference to speculation in Tom Walker – unregulated trade). America as a giant workshop.

Emphasis on business, growing personal wealth and getting ahead became the underpinning for what most American believed was the ideal democratic society.

Historical Context, cont… Cities grew in size Populations scattered and the number of states

increased Growth and expansion gave the nation a firm

belief in it’s own progress Political climate that elevated self-made men like

Andrew Jackson instilled the populace with faith in the power of the individual to rise above his or her own circumstances and fashion his or her own place in the world.

Gave a collective sense of rising above, both on a cultural and individual level, created fertile ground for an optimistic, if not idealistic, American philosophy to take hold

In the 1840’s, America enters its

teenage years……and the country experiences its first identity crisis!ButBegins to define a clear “American” voice

Enter the Transcendentalists! (America’s “adolescence”)

America’s Identity Crisis

TRANSCENDENTALISM: Origins Major national issues

came together causing America’s “identity crisis”:

1. Slavery2. Westward expansion

America = half free states / half slaveQ: Would new states be slave or free?Exacerbating the issue:Mexican War 1846-1848 –would new territory also be free or a slave territory?

Forerunners Puritanism

belief in God as a powerful force

belief that each individual can experience God first-hand

Colonialism Self-empowerment Equality

Romanticism placed central

importance on emotions and the individual

emphasized intuition and inner perception of truth that differs from reason

emphasized nature’s beauty, strangeness, and mystery

emphasized individual expression and artistic freedom

TRANSCENDENTALISM: Origins Transcendentalism was a literary

movement that flourished during the middle 19th Century (1836 – 1860).

It began as a rebellion against traditionally held beliefs by the Church that God superseded the individual.

1840-50: movement of writers began to seriously challenge American values

Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau Nathaniel Hawthorne Herman Melville

Transcendentalism: Origins Group focuses on reform Ties with Unitarian Church

(rejection of Trinity) though not a religion.

Centered around Boston and Concord, MA. in the mid-1800’s (a group of intellectuals and academics)

Still influenced by European ideas and Eastern philosophies

Departure from ROMANTICISM (focus on the extraordinary, uncommon, intangible)

Embracing of REALISM (focus on the ordinary, common, tangible)

Transcendental Beliefs: BeliefsBasic Premise #1 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.

Basic Premise #2 The structure of the

universe literally duplicates the structure of the individual self—all knowledge, therefore, begins with self-knowledge. This is similar to Aristotle's dictum "know thyself."

Transcendental Beliefs: BeliefsBasic Premise #3 Transcendentalists

accepted the concept of nature as a living mystery, full of signs; nature is symbolic.

Basic Premise #4The belief that individual

virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization—this depends upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies:

1. The desire to embrace the whole world—to know and become one with the world.

2. The desire to withdraw, remain unique and separate—an egotistical existence.

So…. Nature Individualism Moral Enthusiasm Feelings

Is Divine Holds the truths of life Holds transcendence for man

when he can communicate and be one with nature

Is innocence and an escape from the evils of society

Transcendentalists believed individuals could transcend to a higher being of existence in nature.

Belief that the transcendent (or spiritual) reality, rather than the material world, is the ultimate reality

Rejection of society’s beliefs and free thought

An individual places inner truth above all else

Fulfillment comes from knowing oneself, not from materialism and not through adhering to institutions like education, the government, the church, even the family.

Advocates self trust and confidence (truth is within us)

Experience is valued over scholarship. God is located in the soul of each

individual. Finding one’s own spirituality will lead one to truth

Simple life (manual labor) This truth of existence combines

nature, the universe and man (oversoul) and is available to everyone

Considered the “Conscience of the Nation”

Challenged individuals to “question authority”

Encouraged non-conformity morality > legality Anti- Aristocracy Anti-Slavery Pro-Women’s Rights Quest for Utopia (Brook Farm)

INTUITION over LOGIC The transcendental reality can be

known not by the rational faculty or logic, but only by intuition or mystical insight

Oversoul: a divine spirit that pervades the universe and encompasses all human souls (coined by R.W. Emerson, author)

All people are open to this higher knowledge;

Great optimism and faith in men Limitless potential of man mind/spirit > body/society

Wrong is the New Right “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 he hears, however measured or far away.” – Henry David Thoreau

The Founder of Transcendentalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 Unitarian minister Poet and essayist Founded the Transcendental Club Popular lecturer Banned from Harvard for 40 years

following his Divinity School address in 1835 and writes his first important

work Nature which describes how humans find God within nature:

“In the woods is perpetual youth… In the woods we return to reason and faith.”

Emerson went on to become a famous lecturer sharing his transcendental philosophy throughout the country. Among his quotable phrases:

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Henry David Thoreau - Practitioner If Ralph Waldo Emerson was

the philosopher of Transcendentalism, Thoreau was its most devoted practitioner.

While Emerson wrote and lectured about Transcendentalism, Thoreau tried to live as a transcendentalist.

grew up in a middle class family with a significant amount of wealth.

Also attended Harvard and graduated in 1837.

A school teacher Worked in the family’s pencil

factory

Thoreau - Practitioner As an independent thinker, Thoreau

became the head of the Concord Lyceum organizing lectures where he met Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Thoreau eventually worked as a handyman and caretaker of Emerson’s estate while Emerson spent long stints studying abroad in Europe.

From 1841 – 1843 Thoreau decided to conduct an experiment of self-sufficiency by building his own house on the shores of Walden Pond and living off the food he grew on his farm.

Thoreau later documented his experiment in his famous memoir Walden.

Famous quotes from Walden: “I went to the woods to live

intentionally, to suck the marrow out of life.”

Romanticism REALISM Civil War to turn of the century Realism: Style of writing, usually

prose, in which surface appearance is presented in an unembellished way.

In contrast to romance or the fantastic, the realist writer also seeks to represent experiences that are usual or typical rather than extraordinary or exotic.

Captures ordinary people in everyday experiences and settings with almost photographic precision and detail

Represents the common through common language

Attack upon Romanticism and Romantic writers.

"Where romanticists transcend the immediate to find the ideal, and naturalists plumb the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, realists center their attention to a remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence"

Transcendentalist Writers – 1850-1870

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poet, Essayist, Lecturer

Henry David ThoreauEssayist, Walden

Civil Disobedience

Nathaniel HawthorneWriter

The Scarlet LetterHouse of the Seven

Gables

Herman MelvilleAuthor PoetMoby Dick

The Confidence

Realism in Literature

Mark Twain Stephen Crane Edith WhartonTheodore Dreiser