During a timeframe in America when religion and industrialism reigned, an idealistic concept known as Transcendentalism emerged. This individualistic ideology revolves primarily around the principle of looking to one's self for the answers to reality as opposed to religion or society. Although short lived, this philosophy influenced prominent figures in American literature such as Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson and Whitman sought to express their Transcendentalistic views through poetry and short essays; these writings primarily contained abstract visionaries on the true essence of understanding life and the self. In Emerson's conceptual piece, Nature, he highlights an importance in human oneness with nature. It furthermore places
