Transcendentalism
What is Transcendentalism?
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
The most well-known Transcendentalists…
American Transcendentalism is a literary movement
that began in the New England region in the early 1830’s.
Transcendentalists placed great faith in higher, intuitive forms
or knowledge, and urged people to have disgust for
conformity while praising individuality.
Transcendentalists disliked the commercial, financial side of
American life. They stressed instead spiritual well-being,
achieved through intellectual activity and a close
relationship with nature.
Transcendentalism
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There are four basic tenets:
 Individual over society
 Simplicity over materialism
 Nature over the city
 Justice over the law
Transcendentalism focuses on
individualism. From their belief that God was
within every person to their steadfast belief
that every man should make decisions based
on personal moral values, individualism was
stressed in their lives.
Thoreau and Emerson wrote extensively on
what it means to be an individual, what it
means to conform, and how difficult
nonconformity is.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Born 1803--Boston
Unpleasant, religious
childhood
Enters Harvard @ 14
Becomes Unitarian minister
like father @ 25, but leaves
the pulpit.
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Ministry in 1829-32
1839--left to lecture
Founder/editor the “Dial”
magazine
Considered the founder of
the Transcendentalism
movement
In “Self-Reliance” Ralph Waldo Emerson writes,
“What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the
people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual
and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole
distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the
harder, because you will always find those who think
they know what is your duty better than you know
it. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s
opinion…”
“Self-Reliance”
What does this term mean?
What do you think this essay will be about?
“Self-Reliance” Vocabulary
Manifest:
readily perceived by the eye or the understanding; evident; obvious; apparent; plain
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Contemporary (noun):
a person who lives at the same time or is about the same age as another person
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Predominate:
to surpass others in authority or influence; be preeminent:
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Transcendent:
going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding.
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Benefactor:
a person who confers a benefit; kindly helper.
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Conformity:
action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc.
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Aversion:
a strong feeling of dislike, opposition, repugnance, or antipathy (usually followed by to):
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“Self-Reliance”
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Directions: Read the essay carefully. You
may want to read it more than once.
Discuss the meaning of the verse preceding the
essay.
Looking at the entire essay, what does Emerson
mean by self-reliance? Objectively summarize
Emerson's major points.
“Self-Reliance”
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Interpret the first sentence. What does every
person realize at some moment of his or her
education?
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"The eye was placed where one ray should
fall, that it might testify of that particular ray."
Interpret.
“Self-Reliance”
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"Society everywhere is in conspiracy against
the manhood of every one of its members."
Interpret.
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"The virtue in most request is conformity.
Self-reliance is its aversion." Explain.
“Self-Reliance”
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Explain the significance of the "iron string."
Why do you think Emerson used iron and not
silken, golden, or silver string?
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Discuss the use of the simile, "words as hard
as cannon balls."
“Self-Reliance”
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What is the general message in Emerson’s
text?
Imagine that Emerson spent a day in your life–
how might he feel about how we spend our
days?
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The products we use?
The commercials we watch?
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have
not been discovered.”
Emerson
Background: Thoreau
Matt Damon on Civil Disobedience ( 5
minutes)
Thoreau Mini Biography (3 min)
Henry David Thoreau was a
complex man of many talents.
Born in 1817, one of his first
memories was of staying awake at
night "looking through the stars to
see if I could see God behind
them." One might say he never
stopped looking into nature for
ultimate Truth.
“Walden”
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Thoreau spent two years living alone in a
cabin in the woods on Walden Pond in
Connecticut. While he was there, he wrote an
extremely famous book, Walden.
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"I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not
lived."
“Every generation laughs at the old fashions,
but follows religiously the new.”
Thoreau
“Civil Disobedience”
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Civil (adj.):
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Disobedience (n.):
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an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty o
commitment.
Justice (n.):
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an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or
wrongness of one's behavior.
Obligation (n.):
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failure or refusal to obey rules or someone in authority.
Conscience (n.):
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of or relating to ordinary citizens and their concerns
fair behavior or treatment.
Transgress (v.):
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to infringe or go beyond the bounds of (a moral principle or other established
standard of behavior).
“Civil Disobedience”
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What does “civil disobedience” mean?
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Could this be considered an oxymoron? How?
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Can you think of examples of civil disobedience?
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Considering this term, what do you think
Thoreau’s essay will argue?
“Civil Disobedience”
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After reading excerpts on “Civil
Disobedience,” what are Thoreau’s views
on…
the role of government?
revolution?
voting?
prisons?
conformity?
taxes?
“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
which he hears, however measured or far
away.”
Thoreau
Transcendentalism, revisited
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"Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd
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How does this music video illustrate some
transcendental ideas?
"I became convinced that noncooperation with
evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation
with good. No other person has been more eloquent
and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry
David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and
personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of
creative protest."
- Martin Luther King, Jr,