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Transcendentalism the american scholar
Transcendentalism the american scholar
Transcendentalism the american scholar
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After breaking its political ties with Great Britain toward the end of the eighteenth century, America took on the next challenge of breaking its cultural ties with its former mother country. By the 1830s and 1840s, influenced by the new ideas of transcendentalism and the Hudson River School, writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe and artists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole began writing and painting in a new style distinct from the style of European writers and artists. By writing about uniquely American experiences, painting uniquely American scenes, and incorporating the emerging ideas of transcendentalism and the Hudson River School, the writers and artists of the American Renaissance …show more content…
laid the foundation for America’s own distinct literature, art, culture, and traditions. Albert Bierstadt contributed to the creation of this foundation in 1869 with his painting titled The Oregon Trail by depicting a distinctly American scene of migrants moving westward to settle the open frontier and by highlighting both the transcendentalist theme of self-reliance and the Hudson River School’s emphasis on importance of nature. The Oregon Trail by Albert Bierstadt contributes to the idea of an American identity separate from that of Europe.
The primary goal of the writers and artists of the American Renaissance was to create literature and artwork different from the literature and artwork of Europe. According to The Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In addition to making claims for an American literary nationalism, the writers… sought to create American literary traditions” (Baym et al). By creating distinctly American literature and artwork, American Renaissance writers and artists hoped to fully establish the United States as its own country with its own unique identity, culture, and traditions. In The Oregon Trail, Bierstadt depicts the uniquely American theme of migration and expansion. As a young and growing country with unexplored land nearby, the United States was constantly expanding its borders westward in the nineteenth century. This made the United States very different from Europe in the nineteenth century, as all of Europe had already been explored and settled. By depicting a distinctly American scene featuring Americans traveling westward in covered wagons, Bierstadt contributes to the creation of the United States’ own unique identity …show more content…
(Bierstadt). Albert Bierstadt’s “The Oregon Trail” incorporates transcendentalist themes, which were an integral part of the ideology of the American Renaissance.
One of the most important transcendentalist themes, which can be found in the works of American Renaissance writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, is self-reliance. In the words of writer Alireza Manzari, “What Emerson and his followers believed was that human beings find truth within themselves; for them self reliance and individuality were of prime importance, and so were individuality, a strong connection with nature, beauty and God” (Manzari). As nineteenth century American citizens left their homes and lives in the existing states to travel into the virtually unknown conditions of the unsettled West, they relied strongly on industriousness, perseverance, and independence. By depicting American migrants on their journey across the country in covered wagons to settle the uncharted lands of the western frontier, Albert Bierstadt’s painting titled “The Oregon Trail” demonstrates the transcendentalist theme of self-reliance
(Bierstadt). Bierstadt was a famous artist of the Hudson River School in the mid-nineteenth century. One major characteristic of paintings of the Hudson River School artists was an emphasis on nature and its beauty and importance. According to USHistory.org, “They [Hudson River School artists] tried to express a love of nature and a feeling for man's place in it… The Hudson River artists left European tastes behind and began to paint the magical beauty and awesome power of nature in America with extraordinary success” (“Hudson River School Artists”). “The Oregon Trail” exemplifies the emphasis on nature in the art of the American Renaissance, as the people traveling the Oregon Trail in the painting are very small, while the trees and the sunset are the focal point of the piece (Bierstadt). The small size of the people and the wagons as well as the focus on the trees and the sunset show that, during the American Renaissance, artists and writers rejected the idea that people are to be the masters of nature and embraced the idea that nature is just as important as people. Furthermore, the painting shows the people on the Oregon Trail riding into the distant sunset, causing the people to seem to be part of the natural world around them. This demonstrates the idea of the oneness of humans and nature, which became prevalent during the American Renaissance. Just as Europe experienced a rebirth that modified its culture from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century, the United States experienced a rebirth that transformed its culture from a microcosm of Europe’s culture to a separate and distinct culture in its own right in the nineteenth century. The American Renaissance produced new schools of thought and new artistic movements, such as transcendentalism and the Hudson River School, whose themes of self-reliance and the importance of nature characterized the literature and art of the time period. Through their work, the writers and artists of the American Renaissance broke the United States’ cultural ties with Europe and created distinctly American culture and traditions, which still exist and still continue to grow and develop today.
Transcendentalism is a religious, philosophical, literary, and social movement of the nineteenth century. Essentially, this movement was based upon the ideals of the “sixth sense,” nature, and non-conformity, as well as individualism, intuition, idealism, imagination, and inspiration. A few of the works and writings featured in the transcendental unit include Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint by Craig Medred, and Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The primary focus of this essay is to provide an opinion on a strikingly debatable topic; Whether or not Christopher McCandless, hero of Krakauer’s Into the Wild, was a true transcendentalist. Despite the bold actions of Chris McCandless on his daring Alaskan odyssey, he turned out to be far from a true transcendentalist, failing to meet the definition of transcendentalism, being solely concerned with himself, and acting out of revenge rather than seeking self discovery - nothing more than a childish suicidal rebel.
Transcendentalism plays a key role in all of our lives. Many commonly shared values are rooted from the transcendental keys. Some devote their entire lives to try and live as transcendental as possible. For example, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were huge undertakers in these ideas and virtues. Chris McCandless looked up to these great thinkers and many others to find an outline for his life. McCandless dedicated his entire life to following many transcendental keys such as non-conformity, reducing dependence on property, and self-reliance.
“Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy.” U.S. History Online Textbook. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Two men, similar in their transcendentalist beliefs and yet so different in their methods of expressing their beliefs on handling the issues of society, were major voices in the anti-slavery movement. While their focuses are more on the subjects of morality and individual choice, they still reflect on how slavery should be addressed by the American people, American referring to the free whites who actually make the decisions. Ralph Waldo Emerson is highly regarded for his views on Transcendentalism during what some of deemed the “American Renaissance.” Emerson establishes his place in history by expressing his liberal agenda through his beliefs that truth is based on intuition and law should be based on individual reflection. He believes that the only way one could truly learn about life is by ignoring knowledge from outside sources and relying on one’s internal voice; he incorporates this belief into the convincing rhetoric of “Last of the Anti-Slavery Lectures.” While Emerson asserts his views on self reliance, he is really trying to sway the views of his audience. This makes us ask the question: Is he really right, or is he only convincing us that he is right? Henry David Thoreau, however, serves as both a complement and a foil for Emerson; while he also expresses his transcendental beliefs, he converges on a split between these beliefs and reason. He articulates his ideas in “Slavery in Massachusetts,” a piece that illustrates how Thoreau separates himself from his own state because of his “contempt for her courts” (1991). While some would argue that Thoreau is somewhat of a better writer than Emerson, it cannot be denied that one cannot reach...
Finding oneself has always been an important discovery that everyone must experience in their lifetime. In the book, Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless abandoned all he knew and set out on a journey across the country. Along the way, Chris’ beliefs about the spirituality and sacredness of the natural world, led him to find himself. Following these ideals and morals, Chris McCandless was a transcendental idealist who was able to fulfill his dreams.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is the best representation of transcendentalism because it shows self-reliance, conformity versus nonconformity, and the importance of nature. In the poem, the speaker makes a choice to continue their walk through the forest on the path that is barely disturbed. The speaker’s choice showed the reader that the speaker had free will and trust in their decision, which plays into the theme of self-reliance in transcendentalism. The poem also touches on the definitions of conformity and nonconformity when the speaker described the path of nonconformity as if, “no step had trodden black.” The author did not describe the path of conformity in the poem in detail, but the lack of description perfectly tied into the
Darwinism and Marxism both showed themselves and clashed with current American ideals. These things caused writers to take notice of the changing
Although the text and painting have different backgrounds, they are both similar a different in many ways. Both the text and the painting challenge the relationship between land uses, background of ancestors, and power. The painting and essay display similar expressions of darkness to light. The mountains represent the downfall of Native Americans fore fathers being forced westward out of their land (Seattle, 55).
The 1830s was a time of serious religious conflict. Many people, especially authors, had different opinions on how to find true spirituality. In the end, authors in America created Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that searches for individual truth through spiritual reflection, complete solitude, and a deep connection with nature. Because this was established by authors, many of them wrote different pieces reflecting and using the beliefs of Transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson was considered to be the father of Transcendentalism. He wrote many influential pieces that follow and emphasize major Transcendental beliefs. The major beliefs include the over-soul, nature, and senses. In addition to those, there are minor beliefs and overall ways of living. These beliefs were included in Transcendental pieces as a general way to share the belief and to create a movement. Due to the use of nature, senses, and the over-soul as its three core Transcendental beliefs, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” successfully explain the fundamentals of Transcendentalism.
An influential literary movement in the nineteenth century, transcendentalism placed an emphasis on the wonder of nature and its deep connection to the divine. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embraced these principles. In their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, Emerson and Thoreau, respectively, argue for individuality and personal expression in different manners. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson calls for individuals to speak their minds and resist societal conformity, while in “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urged Americans to publicly state their opinions in order to improve their own government.
Transcendentalism is where people feel empowered and their surroundings surpass their five senses. Where intuition and imagination overpower logic and reason. There are five tenets that go along with transcendentalism: non conformity, self-reliance, free thought, confidence, and importance of nature. Non conformity is failure or refusal to conform to a prevailing rule or practice. Self-reliance is reliance on one's own powers and resources rather than those of others. Free thought is anything you think and express unaffected by other people's views. Confidence is the state of feeling certain about the truth of something. The importance of nature is where people need nature to relieve their feelings and connect to their home. Qualities of transcendentalism
“Identity means who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group which make them different from others,” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Third Edition). Every individual, group and country has their own identity which makes them different from others and it shows uniqueness of oneself. Reaction against the existing philosophy takes place when there is conflict in interest amongst the philosophers. It was from the late eighteenth century until mid nineteenth century that the philosophical and literary movement (Transcendental Movement) took place in America as a result of extreme rationalism of the enlightenment. “Transcendentalism, an idealist philosophical tendency among writers in and around Boston in the mid-19th century. Growing out of Christian Unitarianism in the 1830s under the influence of German and British Romanticism, transcendentalism affirmed Kant’s principle of intuitive knowledge not derived from the senses, while rejecting organized religion for an extremely individualistic celebration of the divinity in each human being” (Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, p. 262). Thus, being the transcendentalists, both Emerson and Thoreau represented American Identity by influencing American to participate in the construction of American identity through their writings and actions. Therefore, this essay will compare and contrast the way in which Emerson and Thoreau represented American Identity; firstly it will argue Emerson’s influence on the American scholars to create American Identity through creation of an intellectual scholars, which was unique and free from European influence and secondly it will discuss th...
Someone once said, “ A revolution isn't always an act of violence that results in a bloody battle”. Transcendentalism has affirmed that fact indeed, since it is a movement expressed in a form of revolution that uses letters and words as its only weapon, its a form independence and individual improvement in which one reflects his own opinion, and radical ideas through using a pen and critical thinking as the best form of expression. Ralph Waldo Emerson, was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendental movement of the 19th century. To Emerson, independence and self-reliance were his main focus, hence they provide a unique link between one’s self and what goes beyond. His sole abstract ideas, vivid expressions, and symbolic
The American Romantic period was essentially a Renaissance of American literature. “It was a Renaissance in the sense of a flowering, excitement over human possibilities, and a high regard for individual ego” (English). American romantics were influenced by the literary eras that came before them, and their writings were a distinct reaction against the ideology of these previous eras. In this sense, American Romanticism grew from “. . . the rhetoric of salvation, guilt, and providential visions of Puritanism, the wilderness reaches of this continent, and the fiery rhetoric of freedom and equality . . .” as they eagerly developed their own unique style of writing (English). American romantic authors had a strong sense of national identity and
The mid 1800’s was a time of continued physical exploration of the landscape of America, and an era of opportunity for an intimate inspection of the land; areas sometimes found by the traveler with the assistance of Travel Journals and maps. These detailed records, reflected a destination, and also allowed an intellectual travel of the mind. In Margaret Fuller’s, “Summer on the Lake,” and Henry David Thoreau, “Cape Cod,” we experience both their physical, and internal travels, and how each author relates, both physically and mentally, to the natural landscape; the similarities, the differences, and what elucidated each, to seek their journeys. The observed, physical differences of the natural landscapes will be compared, followed by a deeper encounter with Thoreau, as to why, and to whom, his more desolate and dark descriptions of the natural landscape, reached a distinctive, psychological appeal, and how these two views relate to contemporary America.