The Transcendentalist

Chances for individual growth gave a new definition of the pursuit of happiness that clearly conveyed a new America in which market relations and westward expansion destroyed old social boundaries. A group called “transcendentalists” conveyed these feelings within their activities and writings; they were persistent that individual judgment should take over the present standing social customs. Ralph Waldo Emerson defined freedom as a process of self-realization, in which…

Why reading “great” literature is valuable. Discuss all the reasons I gave in class and which reasons you find the most compelling. Take any 2 works you’ve read an explain how they are good examples of “great” literature. Great literature is a necessary part of being alive. We need literature because it is expression, without it we are just people who can’t express themselves and can hardly communicate. Literature humanizes us by telling us exactly what it means to be human. In CS Lewis’s words…

to not be reckoned with, they all illustrate, at least at some point, nature as a blissful environment that must be adored and respected. This is much like what was done in the works of Romantic thinkers such as William Wordsworth and other Transcendentalists. The big picture goal coming out of the filmmakers’ representations of nature seems to be a calling for the conservation of the environment. By showing the unpredictability of nature…

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous transcendentalist author, once said, "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." Most people follow society's rules and never go beyond these rules, living a safe and normal life. I agree with Emerson because people only live one lifetime, people can learn about themselves, and learn about there surroundings. There is only one lifetime a single person can live, why not do all the things you are capable of in it.…

Dark Romanticism presents not only the good in life, but also the evil that is within. The dark romantic genre puts these views in the literary world, further spreading this mindset through the readers. Authors who influenced this genre tremendously in the 1800’s include Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of The Baskervilles), and especially Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Annabel Lee). The stories these authors created…

Uprooting the Truth “The universe is composed of Nature and the soul,” said renowned Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson in his piece title Nature (qtd. in Perkins 591). The vitality of nature’s power is one of the fundamental pillars of Transcendentalism. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter mirrors this concept, nature playing a vital role in the novel from beginning to end. The influence of nature is a common theme throughout the novel. Specifically, the forest, flowers, and sunlight…

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a popular transcendentalist throughout the 1800s, emphasized throughout his essay “Self Reliance” the importance of relying on one’s own powers or thoughts rather than another person’s. As a transcendentalist he believed in the power of thought and spirituality over ordinary human experiences and materials. Emerson conveys a radical thought process throughout his essay, one that is almost impossible for an average human to obtain. He reiterates the importance of placing…

nature’s touch and roped into a tangled web of people, places, and time. If readers look into the leaves of the book, wrap their mind around the message of interconnectedness of nature and life, they will see the same ideas mirrored from the transcendentalists in American history. Native American spirituality is based on nature. Native Americans look to nature to explain the world around them, incorporating it into their oral narratives and art work. They have a deep set belief that nature and…

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832, to Abby May and Amos Bronson Alcott (Price). In a letter to her father twenty-five years later, Alcott described herself as being born “bawling at the disagreeable world” (Kort). Louisa May Alcott’s father was a philosopher and educator, a leader in transcendentalism, and a spokesman for the abolitionist movement (Heginbotham). Fascinated by child development, he observed his own children in various stages, including,…

transcendentalism, Edward Estlin Cummings, recognized as E.E Cummings, was born on October 14, 1894. He presented romantic literature in experimental versus to create a distinct personal style. Who wrote moving poetries that were influenced by the transcendentalist movement E(dward) E(stalin) Cummings.…