Doubet, James
Luther, Cj
McLoone, Thomas
Rastatter, Ryan
Ryan, William
ELA 1 Period 2
Mr. Student
1/10/11
American Transcendentalism with Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson
What started as mainly a movement of philosophy, turned into a remarkable
poetic movement. American transcendentalism all started with the thoughts of certain
Unitarians in the region of New England in the late 1700’s. These people accepted the
Neo-Platonic belief that nature is a living mystery. One of the faiths transcendentalists
adopted from Unitarians is that a single individual is the center of the spiritual world.
This rejects the faith of God being three persons. As the Unitarians continue their faith,
they began to think of other ways to express their faith. As ideas came into their mind,
Unitarians started to think about writing.
American transcendentalism became very involved in literature in the 1830’s. “The
Dial”, which was a publication started as a magazine under Margaret Fuller in 1840, was
the building block for transcendentalists. Other writers and poets inserted their work into
“The Dial.” Some of these poets built inspiration to contribute to the cause.
Ralph Waldo Emerson took over “The Dial” in its last two years, until it ended in 1844.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the many well-known transcendentalists. American
transcendentalists of poetry wrote about spiritual well-being, individualism, nature, and
imagination. They wrote about what they were feeling, not about what others
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where doing. They used life experiences such as death, joy, and loneliness. American
transcendentalism poets can be classified as rebels. What they did was against the natural
thoughts and words of standard society. They did not care about what others thought,
they wrote about what they wanted to.
Now, American Transcendentalism has slowed. No one calls themselves a
“transcendentalist.” Some still follow in the work of transcendentalism. It still gives a
lasting impression on literature, including poetry. Poets are still influenced by the work of
transcendentalists. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman still remain the most
popular transcendentalist poets. Their work is still very popular among poetry. The way
transcendentalists wrote is also still practiced today. Transcendentalists did what was not
normal at the time. They went against what society was accustomed to. They wrote about
their feelings, which was not the norm of the time period. Emerson and Whitman still
remain among the top of poets. Emerson revolutionized poetry. He basically pioneered
the whole movement. Although Walt Whitman can also be classified as a naturalist, he is
a very popular transcendentalist. He helped make the movement popular. He worked as
someone who didn’t care about what society thought about him, which is what a true
transcendentalist is about. While, Emerson remains the most popular transcendentalist,
Whitman is still very popular for what he did. Walt Whitman is still a very remarkable
poet, who made the movement known as transcendentalism popular
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Walt Whitman, among others, devised a theory and practice of living that sought
to bring individuals and society back to the most simple, natural, and straightforward
beliefs that could guide human behavior and foster a healthy society(Nicole Smith). Walt
Whitman is generally considered to be the most important American poet of the
nineteenth century.(Walt Whitman Biography)
Walt was born on May 31, 1819 to the son of Walter Whitman, a house builder,
and Louisa Van Velsor. He was one of nine and his family lived in Brooklyn and long
island during the 1820s and 1830s.
He attended school in Brooklyn and ended his formal education in 1830. At the
age of 11 he began to learn the printers trade and taught himself to read. Walt read the
bible and also the work of Homer and Shakespeare. His first job was working as an office
boy for a prominent lawyer. In 1831 he became an apprentice of a printer in New York.
When he turned 17 he started his teaching career. He taught in a one room school house
near Long Island. While teaching he started his own news paper named the “Long
Islander”. That job folded one year later and Walt finished his teaching career 2 years
later. When his teaching career ended he turned to journalism, something hes always
loved. Walt started his job at the “Daily Eagle”. In 1846 he was fired for his beliefs on
slavery and received a job at “New Orleans Crescent”. He traveled to the South of three
months and this experience influenced his writing and poetry later in his life. On his way
back to Brooklyn in 1848, he founded a "free soil" newspaper and the "Brooklyn
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Freeman". Through all these years of traveling and working he developed his style of
poetry(Poem Hunter).
Walt Whitman was an exuberant poet and he expressed his thoughts
enthusiastically. Walt was influenced by many factors. He was influenced by his father's
liberal political stance and exposure to such socialists as Quaker Elias. Hicks, and Count
Volney. The start of the Civil War impacted his life and his writing as well. His brothers
descriptions of his war experiences provided Walt with many of his insights into the
nature of the war and of soldiers' feelings. Whitman was attempting to bind the nation
and keep it peaceful but the Civil War shattered his dreams of a perfect nation. While
Whitman lived in Washington he began to visit the hospital. He listened to the stories of
the wounded and wrote letters to solders families. Walt began to write about war like
experience and the deadly and bloodily nation(Folsom and Price).
Walt Whitman, perhaps the greatest American poetic genius ever, was deeply
influenced by the spirit of Transcendentalism and he represented and showed his beliefs
enthusiastically. He embodied the individualism and innovation of the movement(Walt
Whitman 1819-1892). His Poetry was more appealing and he expressed all of his
feelings of society and government in his writings(Nicole Smith).
Walt Whitman has been called one of the five greatest American poets ever(US History).
He Settled in Camden , New jersey and would travel very little around the
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United States. Whitman died in March 1892 and was laid to rest in Haleigh Cemetery in
Camden.
(Tom)The Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson was written on July 4th 1837 about
the Battle of Concord. The battle of Concord took place during the Revolutionary War in
of course Concord, Connecticut. At around 7:30 am the British went into Concord with
one goal and one goal only which was to destroy the weapons of the Colonists. One man
was held at gunpoint until he told the British soldiers were they were holding their
weapons. There was a militia of about 400 people that saw smoke and went back into the
town of concord. The redcoats took fire and 2 Americans were killed and the British
departed without reinforcements. At first this seemed like a good idea until the militia
started hiding behind trees and took open fire at the redcoats during their retreat. The men
of the militia kept hiding in protected places and took fire until eventually the redcoats
broke into houses during their retreat. The British had 73 people killed, 174 wounded,
and 26 were missing. The Americans had 49 killed, 39 wounded, and 5 were reported as
missing. (“<http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h655.html>.”)
The Concord Hymn’s poetic style is a monody poem. It is a monody poem because of its
unique rhyming scheme and because it laments another persons death. Its rhyming
Scheme is known as AB AB rhyming scheme. This means that the first line and third line
rhyme and the second and fourth line also rhyme. The opening stanza of the
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Concord Hymn is very reverent to the soldiers and shows how much respect that
Emerson has for these people
Ex: “By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
(<http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/monody.html>.)
The concord Hymn is a poem of true sincerity and remembrance to the soldiers who
fought in the revolutionary war but especially the ones who fought in the battle of
Concord. It inspires the people to read it to live out their lives the way these soldiers did
by putting others before ours. Emerson did a great job emphasizing what a great thing
that those soldiers did. This poem represents the transcendentalism movement because
they were showing how a good group of people should come together as a team and work
together unlike the way society was during this time. The purity of the people wasn’t
destroyed. This poem only represents the transcendentalism movement because it was
written during the time that this movement was going on and meets most of the
movement’s guidelines. (“Jordan
Dickie”http://bestword.ca/Ralph_Emerson_Concord_Hymn_Analysis.html>”)
Ralph Waldo Emerson had just gotten back from Europe and saw a battle monument in
Concord, Massachusetts. He was 35 years old when he wrote it and he had no idea how
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big that this poem would get. There are famous quotes in it such as “the shot heard round
world”. This poem would help people remember the Battle of Concord and take out
several different lessons out of this poem. They might be very thankful for our freedom
after it or they might realize how to work better as a group. This poem didn’t affect the
world but it certainly affected poetry and the United States at that time because he first
read it at a memorial of the Battle of Concord. This poem would not have had the same
meaning and story that it has today if he didn’t first reveal it at the Memorial it would
have just been an average poem instead of being one of the most influential poems by one
of the most influential poets of all time. Emerson might not have even been one of the
notable transcendentalists if it wasn’t for this poem but luckily he wrote it and revealed it
at the right time. This poem might have been the most influential poem during
transcendentalism but its debatable between many other great poems.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born to a conservative Unitarian minister in Boston,
Massachusetts on May 25, 1803. He was truly the center of the American
Transandentalism movement in the 1800s and was possibly one of the greatest poets of
all time. He is certainly believed to be the greatest American poet by many scholars all
across the country. (Goodman 2010)
Waldo, Ralph was dropped after college, came from a long line of highly educated
Unitarian ministers. His father and grandfather were well known Boston ministers and
built up the Unitarian religion in the New England area. Waldo followed in his father’s
footsteps and became a minister himself. (Harrison 2011)
(Thomas 2006)
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Waldo lived a life of tragedy. His father died when he was eight, his wife when he was
twenty and his son at the age of five. This along with a death obsessed aunt (Mary
Emerson) shaped his life strongly although, his high level of optimism led to a generally
positive outlook on nature and life. This optimism along with the Unitarians starting
Transcendentalism led Waldo to write poetry. (Richardson 2007)
The multiple deaths in Waldo’s family led him to leave America on December 25, 1931.
Waldo needed to get away from it all so worked his way through Europe’s landscape and
became inspired by nature. He began to gather ideas and poems for his book of public
works called Nature. (Russell 2010) (Manley 2006)
He returned to America in 1833 and settled in the city of Concord. He then met his wife
and he continued to lecture in American History and philosophy. In the mean time,
Waldo continued his writing of his book nature. (Wesley 2006) (Richardson 2007)
(Harrison 2011)
In the fall of 1834 Tuberculosis struck his family with fury. It struck both his brothers
and after both of their deaths it hit him. He was severely ill and extremely close to death
but he was one of the lucky ones and hardly escaped death. Waldo again was stricken
with tragedy but remained strong and continued with his life. (Russell 2010)
1836 was a very fortunate year for Waldo. He and his wife had a son named after his
father and Waldo’s book of works, Nature was published. It thrusted Waldo into the
poetic community. He also became more prominent in Lecturing. He made many famous
lectures and addresses at many colleges and universities all across the country. The
country was in an economic downturn but even then Waldo was still living a luxurious
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life because of his inheritance of the Tucker Estate in Boston. (Russell 2010)
(Harrison 2011)
In 1938 Emerson abandoned his summertime ministry and took on full time writing of
poetry and lecturing. Many colleges and universities were fighting to bring him to their
institution but because he was a Harvard alumnus he said most of his lectures there.
(Manley 2006)
In November 1942, he had a daughter named Edith. His views on the world and nature
began to change so he made it public in Boston at “the Transcendentalist”. Soon after that
Waldo junior died from scarlet fever. Waldo was devastated and had an extremely hard
time recovering. (Wesley 2006) (Harrison 2011)
He needed to get away from it all again so in 1847 he set sail for Europe. He lectured in
England and Scotland. This spread his fame and his life seemed to be reenergized.
(Richardson 2007) (Thomas 2006) (Goodman 2010)
Emerson continued his life in wealth and prominence. He was beloved by the American
people but in 1872 Emerson’s health took a very bad downturn. He died on July 24,
1872. (Goodman 2010)
“Ralph Waldo Emerson is the greatest American poet of all time. Without a question he
is the most well known poet in our history.” Emerson was the overseer of Harvard; he
had a doctorate in Law and is one of the most famous poets worldwide. He is an
American Legend. (Manley 2006)
Work Cited
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