Search for Self Module
Mrs. Russ
*Transcendentalism was a movement
within American Romanticism.
Transcendentalism is known as the
philosophical movement as a protest to
the general state of culture and society.
*Romanticism: a nineteenth century way
of looking at the world which was a strong
reaction against the Age of Reason
(Thomas Jefferson, et. al)
EMPHASIZED
IMAGINATION
INTUITION
SPONTANEITY
NATURE
HIGHER TRUTHS
INDIVIDUAL
YES!
OVER
REASON
LOGIC
PLANNING
CIVILIZATION
REALITY/SCIENCE
SOCIETY
NO!
American Romanticism –
- distrust of civilization
- nostalgia for the past
- concern with individual freedom
- interest in the supernatural
- love for the beauty of the natural
landscape
Romantic Hero in American
Fiction –
-youth (or youthful innocence)
-love of nature (distrust of town life)
-uneasiness with women (seen as
civilizing and confining influences)
-need to engage in quest for higher
truths
-virtue lies in innocence, not in
sophistication
*The Transcendentalists were a group of New England
writers in the mid-19th century (1830s
and 40s); many were early abolitionists and feminists.
*They held the view that the basic truths of the
universe transcend (lie beyond) empirical
knowledge (empirical: knowledge we obtain through
our senses)
Core tenets of Transcendentalism:
*The individual is paramount.
*Major inspirations included nature and intuition.
*The spiritual is valued over the rational.
*God is present in every aspect of nature, including
every human being.
*Everyone is capable of apprehending God through the
use of intuition.
*Transcendentalism ran counter to
the prevailing emphasis on
community and organized
institutions.
*In many ways Transcendentalism is
a very American form of thought
and has influenced American
thought to this day.
Principal Transcendentalists:
Ralph Waldo Emerson:
-Chief founder of
Transcendentalism
-Former Unitarian minister
-Lecturer, essayist, and poet
-Known for “Self-Reliance,” “The
American Scholar,” and “The
Divinity School
Address”
Henry David Thoreau:
-Emerson’s protégé
-Took Emerson’s theories and put them into
practice
-As an experiment, lived for two years at Walden
Pond outside of Boston
- Two major works: Walden and Civil Disobedience
(in protest of the U.S. Mexican War and the idea of
manifest destiny; inspired Ghandi and Martin
Luther King, Jr.)
Less well-known Transcendentalists:
Bronson
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)
Margaret Fuller
“Sort of” a Transcendentalist:
Walt Whitman
- Purely American poet
- Inspired by and used
Transcendental ideas in his
poetry
- Also often grouped with the
Civil War writers because of
his poems about Abraham
Lincoln
Things to consider:
1. Would Emerson and Thoreau find
Chris McCandless to be a worthy
transcendentalist? Why or why not?
2. Do you think his actions were noble?
Foolish?
3. Is there anything to be admired or
reprehended in Chris McCandless?
Are There Any Transcendentalists Today?
"Have you ever felt like everybody’s watching waiting for you
to lose have you ever felt like you’re living in a spot light
searching for the real you" and "Don't kick the chair, it can only
get better." In the part of the song performed by Kid Cudi, he
says "You don't need no help, you can be better all by yourself."
This correlates with the transcendental idea that you can do
anything you put your mind to, and don't need to be
dependent on other people. All in all, this song is a great
example of transcendental views in the way that it promotes
believing in yourself and not letting the pressure of society get
to you or change you.
Your homework tonight is to find a song that
supports the ideas of Transcendentalism.
Choose a line from the song that supports one
of the tenets and then type a 3.8 paragraph
explaining the connection to
Transcendentalism. Your three points are:
1.Title of song and artist who sings it
(remember that titles go in “ ”)
2.Line from the song in “ ” (word for word)
with explanation of what that line means
3.What tenet of Transcendentalism this line
supports and explanation
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resour
ces/lesson-docs/TranscendentalSongs.pdf