Five Tenets Of Transcendentalism

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The time period of transcendentalism changed the views of many people as well as bringing the five tenets of transcendentalist. These tenants were discussed by Walden explaining confidence, self-reliance, free thought, nonconformity, and importance of nature. Many pieces of literature contain some or all of these tenets, the ones i’m going to discuss and analyze today are Still I Rise by Maya Angelou that focuses on self-reliance and stanza 1 and 52 from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman which focuses on all tenants of transcendentalism (and that you will be discussing about the one that's most important 2 you). The poem Still I Rise written by Maya Angelou has a main focus of self-reliance, but can expresses all tenets of transcendentalism …show more content…
Song of Myself is also a poem filled with 52 sections and I analyzed section 1 and 52. Overall, this poem does contain all tenants of transcendentalism, but some of the five tenets are used in different situations. Some similarities between both pieces of literature are that they both use the tenant of nature in similar context. In both poems, they use nature to describe and compare themselves as one with nature. In the poem by Maya Angelou she describes it as her rising just like dust rises in the air and in the one by Walt Whitman, he describes himself as being one with nature. He writes, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love” (Whitman 1940). This comes to show that they both show the importance of nature through saying they have a likeness with dirt. None the less, they both still have some differences in using the tenets. In this case, they are different in the way they use confidence. Confidence can be interpreted in many different ways and both poems took it different directions. In section 52, Walt Whitman writes, “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world” (Whitman). Both authors are confident in themselves, however, Whitman uses confidence through shouting it to the world of who he is and Angelou sees confidence through a physical appearance and being secure about who she is. All tenets have a great amount of …show more content…
)In class we went over the transcendentalist movement which in turn, led to learning about the different tenets of transcendentalism. We also learned that the tenants, although used in different context necessarily have one meaning. I decided to analyze Still I Rise by Maya Angelou which has a specific tenant of transcendentalism, self-reliance. Which I then compared it to stanza 1 and 52 in Song of Myself by Walt Whitman which is also a poem. Overall, both poems had similarities, but they still had their share of differences in using the tenants. With all 5 tenets my perspective to which is the most important one is confidence solely through its meaning. These tenets have been represented in countless pieces of literature for years and it's what someday someone went

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