English 358: 19th Century American Transcendentalism
Queens College, Fall 2010
Mondays, 6:30-9:20 pm (Section E6M3A), Razran 304
Instructor: Dominique Zino
Dominique.Zino@qc.cuny.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:00 pm and by appointment
Office location: Klapper Hall 350
Office phone: (718) 997-4638
Course blog: http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James I:22)
Transcendentalism is not so much a formal philosophy as it is a cluster of concepts that
were put forth by a number of different individuals. While a term like transcendentalism resists a
tidy definition, this “uniquely American” way of thinking includes a search for lasting truth, the
belief that evidence for such truth can be found in and through the physical world, and the notion
that each individual, as “part or particle of God,” has the capacity to experience truth in a directly
personal way. In the 21st century, it may be difficult for us to understand just how radical
Transcendentalism was considered to be in the decades leading up to the Civil War. These
concepts were not only explored by literary figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau but also by educational activists like Bronson Alcott, social reformers like Theodore
Parker, and a host of others advocating for reforms like the abolition of slavery and equal rights
for women. As Transcendentalism has also had a profound effect on our modern ideas about
individuality and democracy, we will conclude the semester by discussing the ways in which it
has influenced modern literary, social, and political movements, from the passive resistance of
Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to the student-centered pedagogies called for by
educational reformers that have transformed classrooms around the country.
You are expected to complete all readings before every class, to “journal” (the 21st
century version) outside of class, and to contribute enthusiastically to our weekly
discussions…as any self-reliant Transcendentalist would.
Course goals: By the end of this semester each student in this course will
1) Demonstrate an understanding of the circumstances that motivated the rise and spread of
Transcendentalism.
2) Formulate both brief and extended written responses to different strains of Transcendentalist
thought presented in the course texts.
3) Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between various minor and major
Transcendentalists.
4) Explore, through class discussion and in written responses, the various rhetorical and stylistic
features that might contribute to a common Transcendentalist aesthetic.
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Course texts:
The American Transcendentalists: Essential Writings (Modern Library Classics, 2006)
ed. Lawrence Buell
ISBN-13: 978-0812975093
Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings (Norton Critical Edition, 2008)
Henry David Thoreau (ed. William Rossi)
ISBN-13: 978-0393930900
Whitman: Poetry and Prose (Library of America, 1996)
ed. Justin Kaplan
ISBN-10: 1883011353
ISBN-13: 978-1883011352
Selections from the American Transcendentalism Web. Ann Woodlief et al. Virginia
Commonwealth University, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/
Selected course readings posted on course blog
Requirements and Grading:
1) Regular access to the course blog (http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/): Selected
readings as well as announcements and assignments will be posted on this course blog. If you
have never visited http://qwriting.org/ please visit the site and create a username and password.
This will give you access to our class blog.
2) Weekly blog entries on your personal blog: Once you have signed up for a Qwriting.org
account at http://qwriting.org/, you will be able to create a personal blog for use in this course
this semester. The blog is yours forever. Treat it well. At the end of this semester, you may want
to continue to add to it or adapt it for another purpose. Once you have created your own blog,
this blog will be added to the “blog roll” for our course and will be open to the other members of
the course and to me. This blog is a space for you to develop your own relationship with the
course material and to pose thoughts, questions, and ideas that might enrich your understanding
of the readings and would be appropriate to be shared with the rest of the members of this
course. Weekly blog posts should be about 500 words (include a word count at the end of your
post each week). Your response to the weekly material must by posted by 9 p.m. every Sunday.
Consistent lateness with these posts will result in a serious deduction of points from your final
course grade.
3) Conversation starters: Every member of the class will sign up for a Monday meeting when
they will act as the “conversation starter.” This requirement has two parts: 1) Pose three to five
questions at the end of your blog entry for that week that will help us to begin our discussion of
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the assigned material (again, you must post these questions by 9 p.m. on Sunday night). I will
refer to your questions during the lecture the next day. 2) You are responsible for collecting
thorough class notes on the day of the class discussion, typing them up, and posting the notes
under the “class notes” section on our course blog (http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/).
4) An 8-10 page term paper: In early November, I will distribute a list of topics you may use to
select a focus for your final paper. This paper will require citations from primary source material,
the use of secondary sources, and a works cited page (not included in the 8-10 page count).
5) A midterm (in class) and a final exam (during exam week): Both of these exams will consist
largely of short answer questions and/or essays derived from the assigned materials and our
weekly discussions.
Weekly posts on your personal blog, 5 points each x 12
Conversation starter
Term paper
Midterm exam
Final exam
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The final grade is out of 200 points. A total of 186 points or above is an “A.”
Weekly schedule:
Mon, Aug 30: Introduction to Transcendentalism; the poet-priest; the relationship between piety
and aesthetics in 19th century New England; log into http://qwriting.org/ using your QC email
address to create your blog.
Mon, Sept 6: College closed
Mon, Sept 13: In Buell, Part I, “Anticipations” and Part II, “Manifestos and Definitions”
Mon, Sept 20: In Buell, Part III, “Spiritual Ferment and Religious Reform” and Emerson’s
poems, “The Problem” and “Uriel” -- “The Over-Soul” and “Circles” from Essays, First Series
(on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Sept 27: In Buell, Part IV A., “Reform as Individual Transformation versus Reform as
Systematic Social Change” and Emerson’s “Experience” from Essays, Second Series (on
American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 4: In Buell, Part IV B., “Education” and Emerson’s “History,” “Art” (Essays, First
Series) and in Emerson’s Representative Men “Uses of Great Men” and “Goethe; or, the Writer”
(on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 11: College closed
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Mon, Oct 18: In Buell, Part IV C. “Feminism” and Margaret Fuller’s Women in the 19th century
(on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 25: Midterm Exam
Mon, Nov 1: In Buell, Part V B. from Thoreau’s Journal, “First Days at Walden” and, in Norton
Critical Edition, “Civil Disobedience” and Walden through the end of “Solitude.” Topics for
term paper will be distributed.
Mon, Nov 8: Walden through the end.
Mon, Nov 15: In the Norton Critical Edition, Stanley Cavell, “Captivity and Despair in Walden
and ‘Civil Disobedience’” -- Robert Sattelmeyer, “The Remaking of Walden” -- H. Daniel Peck,
“The Worlding of Walden” -- Lawrence Buell, “Thoreau and the Natural Environment” (choose
1 to respond to for this week’s blog post) and Thoreau’s Ktaadn (on course blog)
Mon, Nov 22: In Buell, Part IV E. “Antislavery” -- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,
An American Slave (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Nov 29: In Whitman, preface to the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855), “Song of
Myself,” “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” Calamus poems
(TBD), “The Wound Dresser,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”
Mon, Dec 6: Dickinson, poems TBD (on American Transcendentalism Web) -- Lawrence Buell,
“Emerson as Anti-Mentor” (on course blog). Term paper due today in class. No exceptions.
Mon, Dec 13: Evan Carton, “The Price of Privilege: ‘Civil Disobedience’ at 150” (Norton
Critical Edition), Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (on course blog) -- in Buell
Part VI, Alcott, “A Transcendental Childhood” – Hawthorne, “Glimpses of Transcendental
Concord” -- Channing, “Recollections of a Transcendentalist Insider” -- Theodore Parker, “A
Dying Transcendentalist Looks Back” – Henry James, “A Concord Pilgrimage”
Other Important Dates:
September 16th begins unevaluated withdrawal period
Final exam week: Dec. 14th – Dec. 21st. Final exam date TBA.
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