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NewEnglandTranscendentalismEmersonandThoreauTranscendentalismInNewEngland,anintellectualmovementknownastranscendentalismdevelopedasanAmericanversionofromanticism.ThemovementbeganamonganinfluentialsetofauthorsledbyEmerson.Likeromanticism,transcendentalismrejectedboth18th-centuryrationalismandestablishedreligion,whichforthetranscendentalistsmeantthePuritantraditioninparticular.Instead,thetranscendentalistscelebratedthepowerofthehumanimaginationtocommunewiththeuniverseandtranscendthelimitationsofthematerialworld.Thetranscendentalistsfoundtheirchiefsourceofinspirationinnature.Emerson’sessayNature(1836)wasthefirstmajordocumentofthetranscendentalschoolandstatedtheideasthatweretoremaincentraltoit.HisotherkeytranscendentalistworksincludeTheAmericanScholar(1837),avolumeinwhichheaddressedtheintellectual’sdutytoculture,and'Self-Reliance'(1841),anessayinwhichheassertedtheimportanceofbeingtruetoone’sownnature.RalphWaldoEmerson1803-1882Americanlecturer,poet,andessayist,theleadingexponentofNewEnglandTranscendentalismLife•1803bornintoaUnitarianfatherandanAnglicanmother•1811fatherdied,leavingthesontohisaunt•1817enteredHarvardandbeganhis“banksavings”•1829begantopreachasaUnitarianpreacher•1831marriedAllanTucker,whodied2yearslater•1832resignedfromtheministry,wantinghisownrevelation–traveledtoEuropeandmetwithCarlyle•“Thedifferencebetweenlandscapeandlandscapeissmall,butthereisagreatdifferenceinthebeholder.”•1833helpedlaunchDial•1835marriedagainandsettleddowninConcord.Works‘Nature’(1836)TheAmericanScholar(1836)Standingonthebareground...ameanegotismvanishes.Ibecomeatransparenteyeball;Iamnothing;Iseeall;thecurrentsoftheUniversalBeingcirculatethroughme;IampartorparticleofGod.Howarepeopletoarriveattruth?“Tobelieveyourownthought,tobelievethatwhatistrueforyouinyourprivateheartistrueforallmen—thatisgenius.Speakyourlatentconvictionanditshallbetheuniversalsense;foralwaystheinmostbecomestheoutmost—andourfirstthoughtisrenderedbacktousbythetrumpetsofthelastjudgment.”---“SelfReliance.”“Godisineveryman.”---“SelfReliance.”TounderstandEmerson'saloofnessfrompeopleandevents,itisnecessarytounderstandhiswayofthinking.Hebelievedthatgreattruthscomebyintuition—thatis,thattheycomeunbidden.Furiousstrivingavailsnothing;truthcomesgently.MostmodernphilosophersdonotagreewithEmerson;theythinkthattruthmaybereasoned.Theyarealsointerestedintheworkingoutoftruthinrelationtolife,whileEmersonwasalwaysonthealertforthefirstglimmer.Heneverfinishedbutwasalwaysbeginning,andhisbeginningshavebeeninspirationstothepeopleoftwocontinents.TranscendentalismAsweepingrevoltagainsttheAgeofReason,againstscience,authority,order,anddiscipline.Transcendentalism:notafullyorganizedmovementorprogram,butaloosesetofprinciplesadheredtobyRalphWaldoEmerson,HenryDavidThoreauandothers.Beliefsintheessentialunityofcreation,thegoodnessofhumanity,andthesupremacyofinsightoverlogicandreason.Andarenunciationofauthority,whetherreligious,scientific,orpolitical.“Nothingisatlastsacredbuttheintegrityofyourownmind.”HenryDavidThoreau1817-1862•Americanessayist,poet,andpracticalphilosopher,renownedforhavinglivedthedoctrinesofTranscendentalismasrecordedinhismasterwork,Walden(1854),andforhavingbeenavigorousadvocateofcivilliberties,asevidencedintheessay“CivilDisobedience”(1849).Life•1817bornintoafamilyengagedinsmallbusiness•1828wenttoConcordAcademy,andpreparedforcollege•1833enteredHarvardUniversity•1837graduatedandbeganteaching•1838startedhisownschoolwithhisbrother•1839acanoetripconfirmedhisleavingforthewoods•1840proposedbutwaslaterrejected•1845-47movedtoWaldenPond•1846putinjailforrefusingtopaytolltax•“Underagovernmentwhichimprisonsanyunjustly,thetrueplaceforajustmanisalsoaprison.”WaldenAWinterWalkAssessment•ThoreauisnowregardedasbothaclassicAmericanwriterandaculturalheroofhiscountry.Thepresentopinionofhisgreatnessstemsfromthepowerofhisprincipalideasandthelucid,provocativewritingwithwhichheexpressedthem.“Thelifewhichmenpraiseandregardassuccessfulisbutonekind.Why,”ThoreauaskedinWalden,wherehisexamplewastheanswer,“shouldweexaggerateanyonekindattheexpenseoftheothers?”Inacommercial,conservative,expedientsocietythatwasrapidlybecomingurbanandindustrial,heupheldtherighttoself-culture,toanindividuallifeshapedbyinnerprinciple.Hedemandedforallmenthefreedomtofollowuniquelifestyles,tomakepoemsoftheirlivesandlivingitselfanart.