Transcendentalism

media type="custom" key="4502312"media type="custom" key="4482970" media type="custom" key="4502220" Ralph Waldo Emerson Born: May 25, 1803 in Boston, MA  Died: April 27, 1882 in Concord, MA  School/Tradition: Transcendentalism Education: Boston Latin School and Harvard

The Transcendental Period in Ralph Waldo Emerson's Eyes
==="Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day." -Ralph Waldo Emerson ===





 <---Click play to listen to a musical selection from the 1840s

 **What is Transcendentalism?** Another way to look at the our works of literature is to see them as a definition of the struggle of people to define spirituality and religion (our words, not necessarily theirs) in a way that took into account the new understandings their age made available. We can be understood in one sense by the people’s context-- by what they are rebelling against, what they see as the current situation and therefore as what they are trying to separate from. 

<span style="color: #843091; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #843091; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;">**<span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Prominent Writers ** <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> The most important writers of the time include me (of course) and my dear friend Henry David Thoreau. Other influential writers of the Transcendental Period include; Marg aret Fuller, Amos Bronson Alcott, Frederic Henry Hedge, and Theodore Parker. Our inspiration for writing is beauty, not only in terms of nature, but also in terms of the individual spirit in literature.We write for anyone who is curious about using reasoning and intellect in order to expand beyond the habitual limits of the world. When considering ways of conveying ones feelings, most people think of poetry, which often tries to portray beauty --whether it is pleasing or horrifying. The Civil War along with American slavery help influence our various novels, essays, and short stories. <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> ====== ===<span style="color: #3cbe3c; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;"> Margaret Fuller Amos Bronson Alcott Frederic Henry Hedge Theodore Parker Henry David Thoreau === <span style="color: #843091; font-family: Georgia,serif;"><span style="color: #843091; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #843091; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">

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We first arose among the liberal New England Congregationalists of the time. Departing from Orthodox Calvinism in two respects, we believe in human striving, as opposed to the austere Puritan picture of life. As prominent writers we emphasize with unity more so that the “Trinity” of God.The transcendentalists believed that the poet was representative of everyman or every woman, but simultaneously different, in that he or she could observe the world, nature in particular, and express its beauty through his or her own verse. They believed that function was just as important, if not more so, as form, and that art lies in the process, or the experience, and not so much in the product. <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif;">
 * <span style="color: #3cbe3c; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">Background and Origin **<span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">

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<span style="color: #843091; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #3cbe3c; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">**Key Concepts and Connections** <span style="color: #843091; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">We, the transcendentalists, are a generation of well educated people who live in the decades before the American Civil War and the national division that it both reflected and helped to create. We, mostly New Englanders, mostly around Boston, attempt to create a uniquely American body of literature. It has been decades since the Americans won independence from England. Now, we believe, it is time for literary independence. So we deliberately went about creating literature, essays, novels, philosophy, poetry, and other writing that are clearly different from anything from England, France, Germany, or any other European nation. <span style="color: #843091; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 80%;">**<span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 144%;"> ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Slavery (With the end of slavery came unity between the races after a long period of time) ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Independence from England (With independence came new religion)  <span style="color: #843091; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 144%;"> <span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 144%;"> ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> American Civil War (With the war came unity between the states after a long period of time) ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Trends in Transcendentalism brought about unity, nature, and religion  ****<span style="color: #3cbe3c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 144%;">, and creative expression ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> This theory helped bring about unity that was necessary for these crucial historical events  ** <span style="color: #843091; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 144%;">

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