Theme: "Nature is thought to be the highest power. Every living creature has a predetermined destiny set by nature and it is a transcendentalists job to discover and fulfill that role as best as possible and to enjoy life." (Hourigan)
What is Transcendentalism? (Jenna)
Transcendentalism would be considered more of a movement than anything else. Transcendentalism was a time in which the norms of ideas, philosophy, culture/societal values were challenged. Transcendentalism goes beyond mind and logic and really focuses on the idea that all humans have a natural divine power and nature. Transcendentalists believe that the beauty of nature cannot always be understood rather they believed that it can only be understood by your own individual insights. Transcendentalists were opposed to church theories about life and living. A large part of the era was the works of various poets and authors, which were highly romanced in the topics of soul and nature. We owe the spread of the transcendentalist movement to literature mainly, which will be discussed in later paragraphs. Ultimately transcendentalism is infatuated with the ideas of nature, spirituality, and inner self. Transcendentalism promotes that all human beings are capable of doing the right thing by getting in touch with their souls, nature, and intuition. Transcendentalists preach non-violent protesting against oppressing governments and drug-free meditation because they believe drugs keep us from hearing out intuition. Many people turn to transcendentalism to answer difficult questions such as racism, sexism, violence, and poverty.
How did Transcendentalism start?(Sarah)
Transcendentalism ultimately gained significance when Ralph Waldo Emerson published his essay, Nature, in 1836 from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Emerson was influenced by mostly literature and European philosophical thought, including the works of the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Along with Emerson, most Transcendentalists read a wide range of books, and pieced together this information to create ideas. Both Emerson and Thoreau kept notebooks with observations in order to organize their ideas. This time period, which is called the “Enlightenment Era”, was dominated by rational thought and logic. Transcendentalism was created in order to find a more rational perspective of living. Basically, the belief system is dominated by critical thinking. During this time, most Transcendentalists lacked meaning from their own religion, so, they started to compare their own religion to others across the world. For example, Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau were deeply attracted to Oriental philosophy and religion. They were also influenced by American thought and literature as well. With this, Transcendentalists began to be more involved in social reform movements.
How did Transcendentalism spread?(Jenna)
Transcendentalism was spread through lectures- mainly given by Thoreau and Emerson. They would go from town to town to spread the message since at that time there was no TV or radio. The two transcendentalists also published books to spread the word. Thoreau published Walden, which was an attempt to show people how to get in touch with their soul while also showing them the benefits of a transcendentalist lifestyle. As said above, transcendentalism was used to help people from being oppressed by their government. In response to oppressive governments, Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience to show people how unfair and inefficient our government is. Emerson wrote Self Reliance which is a collection of his best speeches/writing which focused on individual happiness.
Transcendentalism in Our World Today (Jenna)
Transcendentalism today does not yet have the impact people eventually hope it to. Transcendentalists believe that transcendentalism is a new way of interpreting spirituality and can influence religions by helping them come up with new realizations. In today’s world all of us are overly obsessive with the latest technologies and powers which lead to catastrophes such as terrorism and wars between nations. Transcendentalists believe that we need to reassess our beliefs of God and really ask ourselves if we have perceived him in correctly.
10 basic principles that are associated with transcendentalism (Jenna)
-Nature: The nature of the world will allow us to rise above the typical “known truths”. Transcendentalists often believe in things that aren’t tangible. Nature allows us to experience these truths. An example of this would be in Meditation- we can experience things we would have never experienced with our five senses. - Materialism: Essentially materialism is viewed as extremely superficial by transcendentalists. They believe that material goods are insignificant to life. -Society: Is believed to be the source of corruption, Transcendentalists believe that we all must follow our own free will so that we will be better off. -Intuition/Instinct: Lead us to do the right thing - In nature, we are uncorrupted: Society is what corrupts us - Conformity: Is wrong. We should all make our own opinions, thoughts and decisions without others influencing those decisions. - The nature of human beings is good: Transcendentalists believe had we left individuals on their own without society we would not be corrupted. -Knowledge: We gain knowledge through experiences -God: We have a direct relationship with God. Transcendentalists do not believe in organized religion because then we are talking to God through a pastor or priest. -Beauty: We are beautiful creatures and we are all morally good. Transcendentalism in Art Transcendentalists valued a very simplistic, ordered approach to art. Mostly all of the Transcendentalist artwork has to do with nature. Many are landscapes, while others include a more focused viewpoint. http://www.joelpeckham.com/transcendentalism.html
Influential Authors
Ralph Waldo Emerson (Taylor)
Contribution to Transcendentalism
He’s best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement in the mid- 19th century. He was a champion of individualism and a critic of establishment. Beliefs The universe is composed of Nature and the Soul. It’s possible to have a relationship between these two. We are all individuals that should have freedom, and man has the ability to realize almost anything. Nature is very philosophical, and he was an idealist. Famous Writings He wrote dozens of published essays and over 1,500 public lectures across the United States. He wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, and then he turned them into print. The core of his beliefs are represented in his first two collections of essays-Essays: The First Series and Essays: The Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 . Some of his other well-known essays are Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet,Experience, and Nature. He published his best works between the mid-1830s and the mid-1940s.
Henry David Thoreau (Taylor) Contribution to Transcendentalism His lasting contributions were in the areas of natural history and philosophy, where he paved the way for ecology and environmental history, which have led to modern-day environmentalism. He incorporated the transcendentalist way of thinking as he used natural observation, personal experience and symbolic meaning in his writing. Beliefs He was a very “naturalistic” man. He advocated recreational hiking and canoeing, conservation of natural resources, and preservation of wilderness. He was among one of the first supporters of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. He preferred not to eat meat, although he wasn’t a strict vegetarian. He sought a middle ground between living in pure civilization and living in pure wilderness. He tried to integrate nature and culture. Famous Writings He’s best known for his book, Walden, and his essay titled Civil Disobedience. Walden was a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings and Civil Disobedience argues for individual resistance to the civil government in opposition to an unjust state.
Margaret Fuller (Taylor)
Contribution to Transcendentalism She was a journalist, critic and woman’s right advocate associated with the transcendentalist movement. She began some of the first major feminist work in the United States. Beliefs She worked for women’s employment rights, and she believed in other important reforms in society, including prison reform and the abolition of slavery. She focused more on social reform, rather than individual improvement. She never wanted to be labeled as a transcendentalist, but she shared a lot of their beliefs; she believed it was possible to move on from your past and change. Famous Writings She wrote Women in the Nineteenth Century, which was one of the first major feminist works of her time.
Opposing Authors Edgar Allan Poe
Video of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFy7XidbnKw) Brief Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was a famous author mainly none for his unusual and dramatic poems. A few of his works were Tell Tale Heart, The Bells, and The Raven. He was troubled as a child and a(n) adult. His parents passed away when he was three years old, and was married twice and had trouble with gambling. “In 1826 Poe left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia, where he excelled in his classes while accumulating considerable debt. The miserly Allan had sent Poe to college with less than a third of the money he needed, and Poe soon took up gambling to raise money to pay his expenses. By the end of his first term Poe was so desperately poor that he burned his furniture to keep warm.” (stated by the museum of Edgar Allen Poe. http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php) Describing his Works In the Poem The Raven, he expresses his feelings on how he felt after his second wife died of Tuberculosis. He creates these surreal images ,as you read, about a raven who comes who visit him while his wife is sick, and the raven tells him in poetic ways that his wife is dying. Since Poe is also known for his murder stories, like in Tell Tale Heart, he speaks about this care taker who cannot stand his bosses evil pale blue eye, and it drives him insane. So insane that he kills him and hides his body parts under the floor boards and after a while he here’s the heart beat gradually get louder and louder. From what has been described, this shows the difference between Transcendentalist and Anti-Transcendentalist. Transcendentalist is more nature like versus murder scenes and the negative.
Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, and comes from a long line of Puritan ancestors. He was around during the salem witch trials.
"Hawthorne turned to writing after his graduation from Bowdoin College. His first novel, Fanshawe, was unsuccessful and Hawthorne himself disavowed it as amateurish."
(http://www.gradesaver.com/author/hawthorne/) One of his most famous writings was the Scarlet Letter. He had several other novels. He was married to Sophia Peabody.He also admired Herman Melville works. Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Twice-Told Tales, 1837; Mosses
from an Old Manse, 1846; The Scarlet Letter, 1850; The House of Seven Gables , 1851; The Blithedale Romance, 1852; The Life of
Franklin Pierce, 1852; The Marble Faun , 1860; The Centenary
Edition of the Works of Hawthorne, 18 vols. ed. W. Charvat et al.,
Transcendentalism in the Media Music:
James Taylor's song titled, "Walking Man" was inspired by Thoreau, who would take long nature walks for hours on end. This song includes many transcendentalist ideas. Here is an exerpt from the lyrics:
"..Well the frost is on the pumpkin And the hay is in the barn An pappy's come to rambling on Stumbling around drunk Down on the farm
And the walking man walks Doesn't know nothing at all Any other man stops and talks But the walking man walks on by Walk on by
Most everybody's got seed to sow It ain't always easy for a weed to grow, oh no So he don't hoe the row for no one Oh for sure he's always missing And something is never quite right Ah, but who would want to listen to you Kissing his existence good night
Walking man walk on by my door Well, any other man stops and talks But not the walking man He's the walking man Born to walk Walk on walking man Well now, would he have wings to fly Would he be free Golden wings against the sky Walking man, walk on by So long, walking man, so long" James Taylor- Walking Man
Movies:
A great example of transcendentalism in the media is The Dead Poet Society.
This is a movie about a group of school boys that start a secret club, against
the wishes of their teachers, parents and administration. They begin each meeting
with a reading of a quotation from Thoreau, and they demonstrate a lot of
transcendentalist ideas. They are all about individualism and non-conformity.
Annotated Works Cited
Jenna Bode, Carl. Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Hill and Wang, 1968. Print.
This book was all about Ralph Waldo Emerson. This book provided interpretations of Emerson’s poems and what
people of that time thought about the poems. This book also provided me with background knowledge about
transcendentalism and not just information about the author himself which was useful. This book also provided a few
of Emerson’s works and went on to analyze them in depth. This book also had a small portion about Emerson’s life.
I believe that this source was credible because it was written by Carl Bode who received his degrees at the
University of Chicago and Northwestern University. He is now a teacher at the University of Maryland. He has
received many awards including Ford, Guggenheim, Newberry fellowships and is an honorary fellow of the royal
Society of Literature in the United Kingdom. Carl Bode is a very notable author as he has also written, Collected
Poems of Henry Thoreau. I also believe this is a credible source because this book was published by Hill and Wang
which is a publishing company focused on publishing books about American history. One of the best known books
they published is Elie Wiesel’s Night. I saw some biased in this book as this book focused mainly on Emerson’s
achievements opposed to some of the hardships he may have dealt with.
This book was not useful in that it was really boring to read and it was hard to get into. This book talked about
Emerson which helped me get a better view of transcendentalism however this book struggled to help me with the
sections of the website I created. However, I was able to pass on the information I learned about Emerson to my
group members who did the author section of the website. I was able to give them information about Emerson’s
works and interpreting them. However, this book was not very useful because a lot of the information I found in my
book had already been mentioned on various websites I had searched.
Virginia Commonwealth University. "American Transcendentalism Web." Virginia Commonwealth University. Spring 1999. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/. This website was a very in-depth informational look at Transcendentalism. This website included many aspects of
Transcendentalism such as, 12 authors and their works, the roots and influences of transcendentalism- forerunners,
literature, social reform, philosophy, and religion. This website also included the ideas and thoughts of
Transcendentalism on education, religion, philosophy of nature, and social reform. The last thing this website
included was the criticisms of Transcendentalism.
This source was reliable because it is a site on the official American Transcendentalism web. Another way I can tell
this source is credible is because it is sponsored by the Virginia Common Wealth University. If a university is
sponsoring this website it leads me to believe that the website has been thoroughly looked into and is credible. This
website also includes an informational resources spot where you can get to other informational websites.
I believe that this was an extremely useful website for my group and me because I know that we all used this
website as it had a lot of wonderful information that we were able to put to use. This website was able to provide us
a lot of information all in one area. Not only was this website helpful because it was informational but it also
provided us with information that we failed to find on other websites. For example- Most websites didn't have the
criticisms, however this one did.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance and Other Essays. Minneola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc. 1993. Print.
This is a collection of essays that represent the core of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s beliefs and teachings. Instead of conforming to the majority, he urges people to follow their intuition, even if it brings on criticism. Each person should live up to their own ideals, not the ideals of society. We each have inborn knowledge through the physical senses, which enables us to make moral decisions without the help of others. It’s better to recognize the power in yourself and embrace it than it is to envy or imitate others. You don’t need to approval of others. This source is very useful for gaining an understanding of what transcendentalism is all about, through Emerson’s ideas. It’s the compilation of his best works, and I highly recommend it. It’s deep, thought-provoking, and challenges you to think about life in a different light.
Furtak, Rick Anthony, "Henry David Thoreau", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Oct. 2, 2009. Web. <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/thoreau/>
This website is a claims to be a summary of the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau. However, it’s not a very extensive look at his life; it’s focused mainly on his philosophical beliefs and where they came from. He drew his ideas from a lot of other influential people, and he compiled them into his own transcendentalist beliefs. This website is great for an in-depth look at his opinions, but for a basic understanding of Thoreau, this is not the place to go. This is definitely a reliable source, but it’s too advanced for the level that most people need.
Sarah Simon, Myron, andThorntonH. Parsons. Transcendentalism and Its Legacy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966. Print.
“Transcendentalism and Its Legacy” is an informational text that discusses the philosophy of transcendentalism from the beginning. The first part of the book puts an emphasis on the men and thought of the nineteenth century. The authors discuss the structure of Emersonian transcendentalism and also, focus on the contributions from other transcendentalist authors such as Emily Dickinson. The second part of the book goes into the subject of twentieth-century reactions to transcendentalism. Some notable authors mentioned include Thoreau, John Jay Chapman, and George Santayana. Overall, the structure was very easy to follow and informational.
This source offers a window into the world of transcendentalist thought, however, it seems to limit itself to the specifics. Also, many discussions in the book have to do with subjects previously found in online sources, especially the pieces of literature. On the contrary, I believe that the source is reliable: seeing that it is a collection of famous writings published at the University of Michigan. The writings are beautifully and chronologically structured; which makes it easy to follow along with the text while reading.
This source helps to understand the structure of transcendentalism by giving an overview of the literature it is based off of. It also offers great insight into transcendentalist practices. While the internet has much of the information all ready, the book offers a total different aspect, although outdated, that helps with researching the topic of transcendentalism.
Pandey, Kundan. "What Is Transcendentalism." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-transcendentalism.html.
This website addresses the specific question: what is transcendentalism? Through its beginning and its development, the author describes many aspects of the philosophy. For example, what a transcendentalist believes in, why they believe this, what they oppose, who opposes them and famous transcendentalists including Emerson and Thoreau. The point of the article is to give a general overview of the philosophy.
Overall, this source was very useful in finding information. It did not go into deep detail with every aspect having to do with transcendentalism, but kept everything short and concise. The article was easy to read and to understand. Therefore, much information was taken from it. Compared to other sources, this article is very useful. The only question left is if the source is reliable. However, the author’s name and the fact that it was recently updated gives us insurance.
This source was very helpful in my research. I was looking for the origins of transcendentalism, and it helped me tremendously. Overall, the source helps to give overview and background information to the wikispace page.
Chyna
Poe, Allan Edgar. Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Doubleday, 1984. Print.
This book is full of all the stories and poems that Edgar Allan Poe wrote himself. The stories range from the Tales of Mystery and Horror to Flights and Fantasies. Every story has its own uniqueness but they all have a some type of connection to one another.
I think this a creditable source because it is written by Edgar Allan Poe himself. Edgar Allan Poe went to the University of Virginia and he worked at several magazine companies as a normal staff member. He became a journalist and published his own works through the magazine companies he worked for at that time.
I found this book to be useful and somewhat difficult to grasp the difference in Poe’s stories and poems compared to the other transcendentalist. However, after reading carefully into the stories and poems and relating them to Poe’s background it became relevant that this would be useful for the Transcendentalist web page. Also almost every story and poem in this book is online so that made it easier to understand because people would state their interpretations.
Chyna
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Transcendentalism Web.” Stanford University. Web. Winter 2003. 07 March 2011.
This website has a lot of helpful information about the influential authors, such as, how the became who they are, were they came from, examples of their works, and even how their relationships with one another. It describes all of Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller views on the political issues that were occurring at the time. Not only does it tell about the people listed above, but it also talks about the philosophy of transcendentalism and its origin. It also brings forth the critics who had a few words to express about the influential people during that era.
I think this website is creditable because it is from a huge, well-known university. I don’t Stanford would risk its name on a website that hadn’t been thoroughly examined and appropriately evaluated to high standards. Also I think it’s a creditable source because universities only put forth the best of the best information.
Yes, this site was helpful to the Transcendentalism web page. It helped to break down some of the authors lives in a reasonable and fun way by not just giving the boring where they are from wand when they were born approach. It made well-known events in the United States relevant to the way they thought, and I was able to put that into the transcendentalism page.
Works Cited
Transcendentalism
Theme: "Nature is thought to be the highest power. Every living creature has a predetermined destiny set by nature and it is a transcendentalists job to discover and fulfill that role as best as possible and to enjoy life." (Hourigan)
What is Transcendentalism? (Jenna)
Transcendentalism would be considered more of a movement than anything else. Transcendentalism was a time in which the norms of ideas, philosophy,
culture/societal values were challenged. Transcendentalism goes beyond mind and logic and really focuses on the idea that all humans have a natural divine power and nature. Transcendentalists believe that the beauty of nature cannot always be understood rather they believed that it can only be understood by your own individual insights. Transcendentalists were opposed to church theories about life and living. A large part of the era was the works of various poets and authors, which were highly romanced in the topics of soul and nature. We owe the spread of the transcendentalist movement to literature mainly, which will be discussed in later paragraphs. Ultimately transcendentalism is infatuated with the ideas of nature, spirituality, and inner self. Transcendentalism promotes that all human beings are capable of doing the right thing by getting in touch with their souls, nature, and intuition. Transcendentalists preach non-violent protesting against oppressing governments and drug-free meditation because they believe drugs keep us from hearing out intuition. Many people turn to transcendentalism to answer difficult questions such as racism, sexism, violence, and poverty.
How did Transcendentalism start?
(Sarah)
Transcendentalism ultimately gained significance when Ralph Waldo Emerson published his essay, Nature, in 1836 from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Emerson was influenced by mostly literature and European philosophical thought, including the works of the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Along with Emerson, most Transcendentalists read a wide range of books, and pieced together this information to create ideas. Both Emerson and Thoreau kept notebooks with observations in order to organize their ideas. This time period, which is called the “Enlightenment Era”, was dominated by rational thought and logic. Transcendentalism was created in order to find a more rational perspective of living. Basically, the belief system is dominated by critical thinking. During this time, most Transcendentalists lacked meaning from their own religion, so, they started to compare their own religion to others across the world. For example, Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau were deeply attracted to Oriental philosophy and religion. They were also influenced by American thought and literature as well. With this, Transcendentalists began to be more involved in social reform movements.
How did Transcendentalism spread?
(Jenna)
Transcendentalism was spread through lectures- mainly given by Thoreau and Emerson. They would go from town to town to spread the message since at that time there was no TV or radio. The two transcendentalists also published books to spread the word. Thoreau published Walden, which was an attempt to show people how to get in touch with their soul while also showing them the benefits of a transcendentalist lifestyle. As said above, transcendentalism was used to help people from being oppressed by their government. In response to oppressive governments, Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience to show people how unfair and inefficient our government is. Emerson wrote Self Reliance which is a collection of his best speeches/writing which focused on individual happiness.
Transcendentalism in Our World Today (Jenna)
Transcendentalism today does not yet have the impact people eventually hope it to. Transcendentalists believe that transcendentalism is a new way of interpreting spirituality and can influence religions by helping them come up with new realizations. In today’s world all of us are overly obsessive with the latest technologies and powers which lead to catastrophes such as terrorism and wars between nations. Transcendentalists believe that we need to reassess our beliefs of God and really ask ourselves if we have perceived him in correctly.
10 basic principles that are associated with transcendentalism (Jenna)
-Nature: The nature of the world will allow us to rise above the typical “known truths”. Transcendentalists often believe in things that aren’t tangible. Nature allows us to experience these truths. An example of this would be in Meditation- we can experience things we would have never experienced with our five senses.- Materialism: Essentially materialism is viewed as extremely superficial by transcendentalists. They believe that material goods are insignificant to life.
-Society: Is believed to be the source of corruption, Transcendentalists believe that we all must follow our own free will so that we will be better off.
-Intuition/Instinct: Lead us to do the right thing
- In nature, we are uncorrupted: Society is what corrupts us
- Conformity: Is wrong. We should all make our own opinions, thoughts and decisions without others influencing those decisions.
- The nature of human beings is good: Transcendentalists believe had we left individuals on their own without society we would not be corrupted.
-Knowledge: We gain knowledge through experiences
-God: We have a direct relationship with God. Transcendentalists do not believe in organized religion because then we are talking to God through a pastor or priest.
-Beauty: We are beautiful creatures and we are all morally good.
Transcendentalism in Art
Transcendentalists valued a very simplistic, ordered approach to art. Mostly all of the Transcendentalist artwork has to do with nature. Many are landscapes, while others include a more focused viewpoint.
http://www.joelpeckham.com/transcendentalism.html
Influential Authors
Ralph Waldo Emerson (Taylor)
Contribution to Transcendentalism
He’s best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement in the mid- 19th century. He was a champion of individualism and a critic of establishment.Beliefs
The universe is composed of Nature and the Soul. It’s possible to have a relationship between these two. We are all individuals that should have freedom, and man has the ability to realize almost anything. Nature is very philosophical, and he was an idealist.
Famous Writings
He wrote dozens of published essays and over 1,500 public lectures across the United States. He wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, and then he turned them into print. The core of his beliefs are represented in his first two collections of essays-Essays: The First Series and Essays: The Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 . Some of his other well-known essays are Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet,Experience, and Nature. He published his best works between the mid-1830s and the mid-1940s.
Henry David Thoreau (Taylor)
Contribution to Transcendentalism
His lasting contributions were in the areas of natural history and philosophy, where he paved the way for ecology and environmental history, which have led to modern-day environmentalism. He incorporated the transcendentalist way of thinking as he used natural observation, personal experience and symbolic meaning in his writing.
Beliefs
He was a very “naturalistic” man. He advocated recreational hiking and canoeing, conservation of natural resources, and preservation of wilderness. He was among one of the first supporters of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. He preferred not to eat meat, although he wasn’t a strict vegetarian. He sought a middle ground between living in pure civilization and living in pure wilderness. He tried to integrate nature and culture.
Famous Writings
He’s best known for his book, Walden, and his essay titled Civil Disobedience. Walden was a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings and Civil Disobedience argues for individual resistance to the civil government in opposition to an unjust state.
Margaret Fuller (Taylor)
Contribution to TranscendentalismShe was a journalist, critic and woman’s right advocate associated with the transcendentalist movement. She began some of the first major feminist work in the United States.
Beliefs
She worked for women’s employment rights, and she believed in other important reforms in society, including prison reform and the abolition of slavery. She focused more on social reform, rather than individual improvement. She never wanted to be labeled as a transcendentalist, but she shared a lot of their beliefs; she believed it was possible to move on from your past and change.
Famous Writings
She wrote Women in the Nineteenth Century, which was one of the first major feminist works of her time.
Opposing Authors
Edgar Allan Poe
Video of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFy7XidbnKw)
Brief Biography of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was a famous author mainly none for his unusual and dramatic poems. A few of his works were Tell Tale Heart, The Bells, and The Raven. He was troubled as a child and a(n) adult. His parents passed away when he was three years old, and was married twice and had trouble with gambling. “In 1826 Poe left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia, where he excelled in his classes while accumulating considerable debt. The miserly Allan had sent Poe to college with less than a third of the money he needed, and Poe soon took up gambling to raise money to pay his expenses. By the end of his first term Poe was so desperately poor that he burned his furniture to keep warm.” (stated by the museum of Edgar Allen Poe. http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php)
Describing his Works
In the Poem The Raven, he expresses his feelings on how he felt after his second wife died of Tuberculosis. He creates these surreal images ,as you read, about a raven who comes who visit him while his wife is sick, and the raven tells him in poetic ways that his wife is dying. Since Poe is also known for his murder stories, like in Tell Tale Heart, he speaks about this care taker who cannot stand his bosses evil pale blue eye, and it drives him insane. So insane that he kills him and hides his body parts under the floor boards and after a while he here’s the heart beat gradually get louder and louder. From what has been described, this shows the difference between Transcendentalist and Anti-Transcendentalist. Transcendentalist is more nature like versus murder scenes and the negative.
Video for the summary for The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uen92KjCSsg)
Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, and comes from a long line of Puritan ancestors. He was around during the salem witch trials.
"Hawthorne turned to writing after his graduation from Bowdoin College. His first novel, Fanshawe, was unsuccessful and Hawthorne himself disavowed it as amateurish."
(http://www.gradesaver.com/author/hawthorne/) One of his most famous writings was the Scarlet Letter. He had several other novels. He was married to Sophia Peabody.He also admired Herman Melville works.
Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne
(http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.html#novel)
Brief Video about Herman Melville
Video Documentary for Herman Melville (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oosnfVffKmg&playnext=1&list=PL4F6726203AE3FB72)
Transcendentalism in the Media
Music:
James Taylor's song titled, "Walking Man" was inspired by Thoreau, who would take long nature walks for hours on end. This song includes many transcendentalist ideas. Here is an exerpt from the lyrics:
"..Well the frost is on the pumpkin
And the hay is in the barn
An pappy's come to rambling on
Stumbling around drunk
Down on the farm
And the walking man walks
Doesn't know nothing at all
Any other man stops and talks
But the walking man walks on by
Walk on by
Most everybody's got seed to sow
It ain't always easy for a weed to grow, oh no
So he don't hoe the row for no one
Oh for sure he's always missing
And something is never quite right
Ah, but who would want to listen to you
Kissing his existence good night
Walking man walk on by my door
Well, any other man stops and talks
But not the walking man
He's the walking man
Born to walk
Walk on walking man
Well now, would he have wings to fly
Would he be free
Golden wings against the sky
Walking man, walk on by
So long, walking man, so long
James Taylor- Walking Man
Movies:
A great example of transcendentalism in the media is The Dead Poet Society.
This is a movie about a group of school boys that start a secret club, against
the wishes of their teachers, parents and administration. They begin each meeting
with a reading of a quotation from Thoreau, and they demonstrate a lot of
transcendentalist ideas. They are all about individualism and non-conformity.
Annotated Works Cited
Jenna
Bode, Carl. Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Hill and Wang, 1968. Print.
This book was all about Ralph Waldo Emerson. This book provided interpretations of Emerson’s poems and what
people of that time thought about the poems. This book also provided me with background knowledge about
transcendentalism and not just information about the author himself which was useful. This book also provided a few
of Emerson’s works and went on to analyze them in depth. This book also had a small portion about Emerson’s life.
I believe that this source was credible because it was written by Carl Bode who received his degrees at the
University of Chicago and Northwestern University. He is now a teacher at the University of Maryland. He has
received many awards including Ford, Guggenheim, Newberry fellowships and is an honorary fellow of the royal
Society of Literature in the United Kingdom. Carl Bode is a very notable author as he has also written, Collected
Poems of Henry Thoreau. I also believe this is a credible source because this book was published by Hill and Wang
which is a publishing company focused on publishing books about American history. One of the best known books
they published is Elie Wiesel’s Night. I saw some biased in this book as this book focused mainly on Emerson’s
achievements opposed to some of the hardships he may have dealt with.
This book was not useful in that it was really boring to read and it was hard to get into. This book talked about
Emerson which helped me get a better view of transcendentalism however this book struggled to help me with the
sections of the website I created. However, I was able to pass on the information I learned about Emerson to my
group members who did the author section of the website. I was able to give them information about Emerson’s
works and interpreting them. However, this book was not very useful because a lot of the information I found in my
book had already been mentioned on various websites I had searched.
Virginia Commonwealth University. "American Transcendentalism Web." Virginia
Commonwealth University. Spring 1999. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/. This website was a very in-depth informational look at Transcendentalism. This website included many aspects of
Transcendentalism such as, 12 authors and their works, the roots and influences of transcendentalism- forerunners,
literature, social reform, philosophy, and religion. This website also included the ideas and thoughts of
Transcendentalism on education, religion, philosophy of nature, and social reform. The last thing this website
included was the criticisms of Transcendentalism.
This source was reliable because it is a site on the official American Transcendentalism web. Another way I can tell
this source is credible is because it is sponsored by the Virginia Common Wealth University. If a university is
sponsoring this website it leads me to believe that the website has been thoroughly looked into and is credible. This
website also includes an informational resources spot where you can get to other informational websites.
I believe that this was an extremely useful website for my group and me because I know that we all used this
website as it had a lot of wonderful information that we were able to put to use. This website was able to provide us
a lot of information all in one area. Not only was this website helpful because it was informational but it also
provided us with information that we failed to find on other websites. For example- Most websites didn't have the
criticisms, however this one did.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance and Other Essays. Minneola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc. 1993. Print.
This is a collection of essays that represent the core of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s beliefs and teachings. Instead of conforming to the majority, he urges people to follow their intuition, even if it brings on criticism. Each person should live up to their own ideals, not the ideals of society. We each have inborn knowledge through the physical senses, which enables us to make moral decisions without the help of others. It’s better to recognize the power in yourself and embrace it than it is to envy or imitate others. You don’t need to approval of others. This source is very useful for gaining an understanding of what transcendentalism is all about, through Emerson’s ideas. It’s the compilation of his best works, and I highly recommend it. It’s deep, thought-provoking, and challenges you to think about life in a different light.
Furtak, Rick Anthony, "Henry David Thoreau", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Oct. 2, 2009. Web. <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2009/entries/thoreau/>
This website is a claims to be a summary of the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau. However, it’s not a very extensive look at his life; it’s focused mainly on his philosophical beliefs and where they came from. He drew his ideas from a lot of other influential people, and he compiled them into his own transcendentalist beliefs. This website is great for an in-depth look at his opinions, but for a basic understanding of Thoreau, this is not the place to go. This is definitely a reliable source, but it’s too advanced for the level that most people need.
Sarah
Simon, Myron, and Thornton H. Parsons. Transcendentalism and Its Legacy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966. Print.
“Transcendentalism and Its Legacy” is an informational text that discusses the philosophy of transcendentalism from the beginning. The first part of the book puts an emphasis on the men and thought of the nineteenth century. The authors discuss the structure of Emersonian transcendentalism and also, focus on the contributions from other transcendentalist authors such as Emily Dickinson. The second part of the book goes into the subject of twentieth-century reactions to transcendentalism. Some notable authors mentioned include Thoreau, John Jay Chapman, and George Santayana. Overall, the structure was very easy to follow and informational.
This source offers a window into the world of transcendentalist thought, however, it seems to limit itself to the specifics. Also, many discussions in the book have to do with subjects previously found in online sources, especially the pieces of literature. On the contrary, I believe that the source is reliable: seeing that it is a collection of famous writings published at the University of Michigan. The writings are beautifully and chronologically structured; which makes it easy to follow along with the text while reading.
This source helps to understand the structure of transcendentalism by giving an overview of the literature it is based off of. It also offers great insight into transcendentalist practices. While the internet has much of the information all ready, the book offers a total different aspect, although outdated, that helps with researching the topic of transcendentalism.
Pandey, Kundan. "What Is Transcendentalism." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-transcendentalism.html.
This website addresses the specific question: what is transcendentalism? Through its beginning and its development, the author describes many aspects of the philosophy. For example, what a transcendentalist believes in, why they believe this, what they oppose, who opposes them and famous transcendentalists including Emerson and Thoreau. The point of the article is to give a general overview of the philosophy.
Overall, this source was very useful in finding information. It did not go into deep detail with every aspect having to do with transcendentalism, but kept everything short and concise. The article was easy to read and to understand. Therefore, much information was taken from it. Compared to other sources, this article is very useful. The only question left is if the source is reliable. However, the author’s name and the fact that it was recently updated gives us insurance.
This source was very helpful in my research. I was looking for the origins of transcendentalism, and it helped me tremendously. Overall, the source helps to give overview and background information to the wikispace page.
Chyna
Poe, Allan Edgar. Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Doubleday, 1984. Print.
This book is full of all the stories and poems that Edgar Allan Poe wrote himself. The stories range from the Tales of Mystery and Horror to Flights and Fantasies. Every story has its own uniqueness but they all have a some type of connection to one another.
I think this a creditable source because it is written by Edgar Allan Poe himself. Edgar Allan Poe went to the University of Virginia and he worked at several magazine companies as a normal staff member. He became a journalist and published his own works through the magazine companies he worked for at that time.
I found this book to be useful and somewhat difficult to grasp the difference in Poe’s stories and poems compared to the other transcendentalist. However, after reading carefully into the stories and poems and relating them to Poe’s background it became relevant that this would be useful for the Transcendentalist web page. Also almost every story and poem in this book is online so that made it easier to understand because people would state their interpretations.
Chyna
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Transcendentalism Web.” Stanford University. Web. Winter 2003. 07 March 2011.
__http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/#3__
This website has a lot of helpful information about the influential authors, such as, how the became who they are, were they came from, examples of their works, and even how their relationships with one another. It describes all of Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller views on the political issues that were occurring at the time. Not only does it tell about the people listed above, but it also talks about the philosophy of transcendentalism and its origin. It also brings forth the critics who had a few words to express about the influential people during that era.
I think this website is creditable because it is from a huge, well-known university. I don’t Stanford would risk its name on a website that hadn’t been thoroughly examined and appropriately evaluated to high standards. Also I think it’s a creditable source because universities only put forth the best of the best information.
Yes, this site was helpful to the Transcendentalism web page. It helped to break down some of the authors lives in a reasonable and fun way by not just giving the boring where they are from wand when they were born approach. It made well-known events in the United States relevant to the way they thought, and I was able to put that into the transcendentalism page.
Works Cited
Hourigan. "Transcendentalism: Text, Images, Music, Video | Glogster." Glogster. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. http://cmhourigan0725.glogster.com/transcendentalism/.
Pandey, Kundan. "What Is Transcendentalism?" Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-transcendentalism.html.
Kanne. "Transcendentalist Notes." Shawano School District. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sgsd.k12.wi.us/homework/kanne/webpage stuff/American Literature/Am Lit A/Romantic Lit/Transcendentalist notes.htm>.