Aim #30: What are the main ideas of Aim #30: What are the main ideas of transcendentalism?transcendentalism?

DO NOW! Read excerpts from Thoreau DO NOW! Read excerpts from Thoreau and Emerson and answer and Emerson and answer accompanying questionsaccompanying questions

 PLEASE JOT DOWN YOUR ANSWERS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF YOUR DO NOW

1. How are you affected by nature? Do you find comfort in it?  2. What is meant by an individual's spiritual side? How to you define it? 

3. What does it mean to know something intuitively? For example, has a parent or a sibling ever known something was wrong with you without having talked with or seen you? What do we mean when we say "I just know it"?   

(I) Background to (I) Background to TranscendentalistsTranscendentalists

a. The ultimate truth transcends the physical world b. (1840-1855): literature in America experienced a rebirth called the New England Renaissancec. Believed in an intuitive way of thinking as a means of discovering truth and god, not through reason, but through introspection and exposure to natured. Through their poetry, short stories, novels and other works, writers during this period established a clear American voice1. No longer did they see their work as less influential than that of European authors

e. Began as a reaction to

1. economic prosperity: message was against materialism 2. Social problems (slavery child labor, materialism, political corruption, American expansionism)f. result: transcendentalists looked at their intellectual and artistic sides to solve these problems (Northeast, primarily Massachusetts)

(II) Who were the Transcendentalists?

a. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)1. nationalist: urged Americans not to imitate European culture, but to create an American culture2. Wrote essay titled, “Reliance”; advocated individualism and independent thinking3. 1850s: became leading critic of slavery4. Famous work Nature (Nature was the source (Nature was the source of deep Human inspiration; helps individuals see truth of deep Human inspiration; helps individuals see truth within their souls; genuine Spirituality come through within their souls; genuine Spirituality come through communion with nature)communion with nature)

b. Henry David Thoreau

1. In his work, “On Civil Disobedience” he advocated for:non-violent protests disobeying unjust laws (he was arrested for not paying a poll tax that might be used to support unjust war with Mexico)2. “Walden”: written while living in the woods alone for 2 years; used time alone to observe nature and introspect on “truth”

R.W. Emerson Essay “Nature” R.W. Emerson Essay “Nature” 18361836

In the quest for Self-Fulfillment Individuals should work for

Communion with Nature “In the woods, we return to reason

and faith… Standing on the bare ground my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes… I am part and particle of God.”

ThoreauThoreau ““I went to the woods because I I went to the woods because I

wished to live deliberately, to wished to live deliberately, to confront only the essential facts of confront only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what life and see if I could not learn what It had to teach.It had to teach.

And not when I came to die I And not when I came to die I discover that I had not lived”discover that I had not lived”

(III) What was the legacy of the (III) What was the legacy of the transcendentalists?transcendentalists?a. Transcendentalists left these legacies:1. Influence Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. through the notion of civil disobedience2. Influenced the beat generation of writers and artists during the 1950s and the radicals of the 1960s and 1970s where anti-war, anti-government and anti-materialism ideologies existed3. Meditation and the New Age movement

(IV) Communal Experiments in the mid-1800s?

a. Idea of withdrawing from society and a. Idea of withdrawing from society and establishing an ideal or utopian communityestablishing an ideal or utopian community

b. Examples include:b. Examples include:

1. 1. Brook FarmBrook Farm, Massachusetts, Massachusetts

2. 2. ShakersShakers: held property in common (no : held property in common (no private property); strict separation of men private property); strict separation of men and womenand women A view of Shaker Meeting from

1885. A photographer from the Poland Spring Hotel took this image. The Shakers are seated in the front benches. The spectators and guests from the Poland Spring Hotel are in the back rows.

Communal experiments – continued-

3. 3. New HarmonyNew Harmony, Indiana: secular , Indiana: secular community; founded by Robert Owen; community; founded by Robert Owen; community would solve problems of inequity community would solve problems of inequity caused by industrialization and capitalismcaused by industrialization and capitalism

4.4.OneidaOneida: dedicated to the ideas of perfect : dedicated to the ideas of perfect economic and social equality; children economic and social equality; children raised communally; all residents were raised communally; all residents were married to all other residents married to all other residents