Compare And Contrast Romanticism And Transcendentalism

The Romantic Era brought a new meaning for Nature in America. Prior to this time, Nature was regarded as a place of spiritual and physical void, to be conquered and civilized in the name of Christianity and progress. Romantics redefined nature. Nature was to be experienced so that the individual could get in tune with his feelings and develop his own thoughts and beliefs in relationship with God. Romantics felt that God was accessible through man’s relationship and understanding of nature. Nature became a refuge for man’s soul in the industrialized world. While the Transcendentalists writers in the Light Romantic era and Dark Romantics both view of nature as a place of refuge from what was going on in America, their views of nature are

Thoreau believes that Nature is an escape from everyday problems and a refuge where man can commune with God. Symbolism is plentiful in “Walden” which is written as an allegory. Walden Pond itself symbolizes the spiritual significance of nature. Thoreau says, “it is a clear and deep green well” (1073); “this water is of such crystalline purity” (1074); “the water is so transparent that the bottom can be discerned” (1074); “it is pure at all times” (1075); and then describes Walden as “a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks” (1079). The pond has "obtained a patent of heaven to be the only Walden Pond in the world and distiller of celestial dews" (Thoreau 1075). It is "God 's Drop” (Thoreau 1082). These are not only literal descriptions of the physical pond but figurative descriptions for spiritual nature. He complains that the townspeople pump the pond 's water into their houses to do their dishes, calling the water "as sacred as the Ganges” which are sacred to Hindus. (Thoreau 1081). Society can pollute man’s spiritual nature. Thoreau spends a whole chapter describing the pond; it is full of figurative comparisons between the pond and the spiritual Nature. Morning is another symbol. In the second chapter, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, the Thoreau says: “I got up early and bathed in

The story absolutely overflows with symbolism, as Nature becomes a refuge for the devil. Even the names are symbols in this allegory. Young Goodman Brown symbolizes the innocence of young, good men, who are all tempted by the evil who usually sin to some extent. In the first paragraph, we learn that Goodman Brown is departing from his wife, Faith, to spend a night in the woods. Her name is no accident either; she will represent Brown 's religious conviction throughout the tale. She calls for him to remain with her, but Brown is determined to go his own way and departs from his Faith thinking it will be only for one night and that he will return “after this one night [and] cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne 387). Brown is about to find out if man can stray from his faith for a while and then return as he hopes. It is sunset as he sets off, and the evening will get steadily darken up until the climactic scene of the story when Brown sees his wife Faith at the Devil’s alter; the light of God steadily fades from Brown 's heart in much the same way as he looses more of his faith the further he ventures into the woods. Finally, he meets the devil, whose identity is communicated to the reader through another symbol-“his staff, which bore a likeness of a great black snake” and so lifelike that it