Emerson And Transcendentalism Comparison

As the renaissance was a “rebirth” of new ideas the transcendental movement was as such. Emerson and Thoreau were the ones heading the charge of the movement. Transcendentalism or the term transcendental is the idea that spiritual experiences or of the related such as God, the cosmos, “transcending”, are beyond a normal human experience. It is an extreme version of Idealism, but as described by Emerson it was based of emotion rather than it being a rational or deliberate thing and could be experienced through nature for God works through nature. Both Thoreau and Emerson “achieved” transcendentalism through isolation from their modern world through seclusion in the woods. Despite the two of them having different experiences each ultimately achieved …show more content…
Having the heart of a child /the innocence of a child is the only way to see nature. Yet he says that a true “[l]over of nature whose inward and outward senses are still adjusted each other” past childhood but “has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood” would only then begin commune with nature (Nature). Nature adopts man as its own as in the same sense as becoming one with nature. It comforts man into an elated spirit despite the hardships that face man outside of nature’s grace. For Emerson he feels “that nothing can befall [him] in life / which nature cannot repair”, because he submerges himself with nature. He transforms into an observer a “particle of God” by natures influence (Nature). With no body he moves freely through the world. However, nature did not grant him the ability to do so. It lies innate “in man or in a harmony of both” for those who like himself who seek to become a particle for the slightest. In the end the experience is a reflection of “the colors of the spirit” and it becomes less when crowded with unjust and dark