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Transcendentalism

Explore the transcendentalist movement in America between 1830-1850, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Learn about its influence on literature and art, its rejection of societal norms, and its emphasis on spiritual transcendence in nature.

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Transcendentalism

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  1. Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

  2. American between 1830 - 1850 A Relatively New Nation • A time of self-definition • Effort to distinguish itself from Europe Economic and Social Changes • Industrialization and urbanization • Factories with poor working conditions • A new breed of materialism

  3. Transcendentalism • An American philosophical movement that influenced literature (Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman) and art (The Hudson River School) • A protest against American society at that time • An offshoot of European Romanticism (Goethe, Coleridge, Wordsworth)

  4. Tenets ofTranscendentalism • Man is inherently good • Society corrupts man’s goodness • Conformity is death • Rely on your intuition • The Oversoul connects God, man, and nature • Find spiritual transcendence in nature

  5. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) • An essayist, poet, and speaker • Schoolmaster, ordained minister, abolitionist • Writes “Nature” and “Self-Reliance” • Deeply spiritual but leaves the church • Friend of Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne

  6. Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) • Emerson, the movement’s founding philosopher • Thoreau, its most devoted practitioner • Lives for two years in the woods on Emerson’s land • Poet, essayist, naturalist, abolitionist • Writes Walden and “Civil Disobedience”

  7. Quickwrite: • Could you live here alone for two years? Why/Why not? • What would you miss? What would you enjoy?

  8. Homework: • Find a song with lyrics that express Transcendentalist beliefs. • Write down the artist, title, and the lyrics that exhibit Transcendentalist thought.

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