Comparison Of Transcendentalism In Henry David Thoreau And Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century that was majorly influenced by a romantic way of thinking. This meant that they were forming new conclusions about the natural world and that they were less rational, more intuitive, more in touch with the senses. A major belief of transcendentalism was the goodness of both nature and people, and that society corrupts the purity of an individual. Two influential transcendentalists were Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson and Thoreau were both involved in social reform movements such as women’s rights and anti-slavery.

In Emerson’s first book Nature he writes “I become a transparent eyeball, I am nothing; I see

all; The currents of the universal being circulate through me.” This philosophical metaphor depicts that he is absorbent rather than reflective, he takes in all that nature has to offer him. Thoreau writes “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” which was in his novel Walden, or Life in the Woods. Which what I get from is that he is saying life is a short period in the stream of time. These are both examples of transcendentalist point of views because in both of these novels they write about the importance of a direct relationship with god and nature.