Hawthorne And Anti Transcendentalism Essay

In comparing two great writers, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson, we see both shared and unique traits. Though coming from different movements, both writers share similar ideas in their works. Hawthorne led the Romantic movement and, more specifically, Dark romanticism, while Emerson contributed to Transcendentalism. Romanticism includes that nature should be revered, cherished, and studied to its fullest capacity. The ultimate understanding and self-guidance is to be found in nature. Furthermore, Dark romanticism centered around the notion that sin, hostility, and self-destruction occurs naturally and inevitably within people.
On the other hand, Transcendentalist perspectives are composed of ideas that people are self-reliant and organized religion and politics corrupt individual spirit. Men are generally born good, children are God’s creation, and God can be mainly sought out in nature and through the belief in truths. Anti-transcendentalism provides contrast to Transcendentalism in that …show more content…
A Transcendentalist point of view states that the goodness of God can be seen through observing nature, whereas Anti-transcendentalism explains that purity will be found by facing every day experiences in which God offers his guidance.
Often times, Emerson is considered the father of Transcendentalism because of his many advancements contributed to the concept. His essay Nature approaches the natural world from almost every perspective imaginable. Some sections include beauty, language, commodity, and spirit, to show how we often do not realize how much nature provides for us. Emerson sets out to resolve the issue that people do not realize the magnitude and extent of nature’s beauty. People too often become caught up on the stress of daily life, and seldom take time to go outside of their routine lives and take in their stunning