The Transcendentalist

What is transcendentalism? What does it mean to be a transcendentalist? The definition of transcendentalism is any philosophy based up on the doctrine that the principles of reality are to be discovered by the study of the processes of thought, or a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical. Some of the more famous transcendentalists are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and many more. “They were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking…

Inheriting the goodness of people and nature and having faith that people are their best when truly self reliant. Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Although this era has come to an end, core beliefs of the Transcendentalists are shared throughout modern media. Pure simplicity was an important fundamental belief to this philosophy and the anti-materialistic followers. Society has become caught in the focus of financials and wants to live up to the…

Transcendentalist Lives Clash Why are they clashing? Don’t all the transcendentalists like each other? They do, but most have different ideas. Is this where sanity goes to just plain old crazy? Or is it just your heart telling you what to do? This is where Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau differ. While Emerson established the “transcendentalist ideas” (Transcendentalism An American Philosophy), Thoreau lived them word by word. Henry David Thoreau lived a very different life from…

corresponding politics of the Age of Enlightenment. European Romantic ideals influenced visual arts and music. More importantly, however, European Romanticism influenced literature and set the precedent for future literary movements such as the American Transcendentalist movement. American Transcendentalism initiated during…

is truth? In response to this movement, a group of American people in the 1800s believed that you should use your instincts to make decisions. Besides using your instincts, Transcendentalists also wanted to create a uniquely American literature and define human existence and spirituality. The three main Transcendentalist writers are Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. A movie called Dead Poets Society was made in 1989 and it was about a school teacher in the 1950s,…

developed in the Northeast United States. Transcendentalists believed in self-reliance and that the individual is more powerful than the institution. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the author of “Self-Reliance”, was one of the founders of Transcendentalism. Emerson befriended and mentored Henry David Thoreau, a fellow Transcendentalist and author of works such as “Walden”. Both men were pioneers for the movement and were the true embodiment of Transcendentalist ideals. Christopher McCandless, born in…

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,…

The transcendentalism movement impacted American culture, society, and literature because it encouraged Americans to transcend society's assumptions and create a personal, continuous relationship with spirituality and nature. The club started among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau organized the transcendental club. Other important members of the club were F.…

there were many influential American Transcendentalists. Authors and poets like Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman and Dickinson shaped Transcendentalism in America. I personally do not abide by all themes of Transcendentalism but there are some in which I think are very intuitive. The principles of Transcendentalism that I believe in are: standing up for yourself, using imagination, and the splendor of nature. Being an original person is important in a Transcendentalists eyes. As an individual you…

created a major shift in American Literature. “Emerson was a central figure in the New England Transcendentalist Movement of the 1830s and 1840s and the founder of its magazine, The Dial” (Nature). This statement shows that Emerson was the leader of the transcendental movement, and this was one of the reason that he was considered as the father of transcendentalism. Being the central figure of transcendentalist, Emerson provided many of his works that showed a different perspective in…