Theme Of Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism & Anti-Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a literary movement that believes that truth exist beyond reason, hard evidence or experience. The followers of this movement, the transcendentalists, believed that it was time for America to have its own form of literature, and these writings were made very different from those found in other parts of the world. There are 5 themes common in works of transcendentalism. They are Nonconformity, Self-Reliance, Freethought, Confidence, and Importance of Nature. These themes are seen in many of the writings of several famous authors of this time. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are two authors important to this period. Their writings focused on the possibilities and beauty …show more content…
Nonconformity is not only refusing to fit into to societies mold, but to be original, and embrace the unconventional. Self-Reliance says to do as its name suggest, be independent, reach for your dreams, and go after your goals even if no one supports you. Transcendentalist were not the only ones to believe self-reliance was important, the Puritans who existed hundreds of years before them had the same idea, the theme that is self-reliance. Self-Reliance is broken down into other subcategories that all seem to fit into this heading. Solitude for example, is not necessarily being alone but finding a place where you can just stop and take a breath. Moral Compass is under the category of Self-Reliance as well. Furthermore Transcendentalist believe that we know inside ourselves what is right and wrong. They also believe people are inherently good and that society corrupts them. The next major category Free thought, which stresses the importance of individuality, spontaneity, and respecting others opinions. All of these themes so far are important but none more important than confidence. I say this is important because you may have all the answers but if you lack confidence you may never express your views. This theme suggest that you are to have confidence in who you are, have confidence in the beauty of love, and believe in yourself and your ideas. Finally, the last of the 5 major themes …show more content…
They each look at things from a different angle and therefore their outlook is different. Life with only one of these two belief systems would be hard although it is becoming increasingly easier to go along with anti-transcendentalism with the increase in violence and death in the world. According to that the transcendentalist which are the optimistic group would take all these things to mean that society is corrupt and terrible, and that its time to get away from it so that they can have solitude, and freely think. The anti-transcendentalist would on the other hand say that they were right the entire time, and the humans are just destructive creatures bent on destroying the planet they live