Transcendentalism And Its Impact On Society

There are many challenges for people while they are growing up. In fact, these challenges are very common for most teenagers. However, many authors have written pieces with the intention to help students overcome their struggles. That is why a student who is struggling to find their inner self can trust several of the ideas of transcendentalism. In fact, Thoreau and Emerson include the ideas of optimism, intuition, and originality in many of their pieces of literature. It is clear that a teenager who is struggling developing their character should connect with the transcendent ideas from Thoreau and Emerson.

life and instead of eating three meals per day, just one. He too wrote. In his

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are still considered two of the most influential writers of their time. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a lecturer, essayist, and poet, Henry David Thoreau is his student, who was also a great essayist and critics. Both men extensively studied and embraced nature, and both men encouraged and practiced individualism and nonconformity. In Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self Reliance" and Henry David Thoreau's book "Walden" and essay "Resistance to Civil Government ("Civil Disobedience")", both thinkers speak about being individual and what reforms and changes need to be made in society. Thoreau stayed with Emerson for a while and was affected by his ideas, especially relating to the individual and

Herman Melville, the author of Bartleby, The Scrivener, was born in 1819 and published his novella in 1853 (Biography.com Editors). In his novella, a successful lawyer of Wall Street hires a scrivener, named Bartleby, who begins the story as a very good worker, and then he declines to work by saying “I’d prefer not to” to the commands given to him. After Bartleby refuses to leave his firm, The Lawyer moves his firm to a different location to abandon Bartleby, who is arrested are placed in prison where he eventually dies from starvation. Melville’s intended audience was the readers of Putnam’s Monthly Magazine literate enough to understand his message. Writing for Putnam’s Monthly “enabled him to reach a large number of readers receptive to his literary interests and social concerns” (Talley 81). This time period also marks the beginning of a new idealistic philosophy. The philosophy of Transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism (“Transcendentalism”). Its adherents yearned for intense spiritual experiences and sought to transcend the purely material world of reason and rationality (“Transcendentalism”). Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most famous and influential Transcendentalists (“Transcendentalism”). Three of the more prominent characteristics of Transcendentalists are disobedience, isolation, and nonmaterialism. Thoreau supported disobedience in his essay titled “Essay on Civil Disobedience.” Emerson stressed the importance of isolation in his works “Self Reliance” and “Nature.” This movement embraced a belief for a so-called “higher reality” that could not be found in reason, sense, or materials (“Transcendentalism”). Melville was well aware of this new philosophy, and it caught his interest. “Nay, I do not oscillate in Emerson’s rainbow, but prefer rather to hang myself in mine own halter than swing in any other man’s swing. Yet I think Emerson is more than a brilliant fellow (“Melville’s Reflections”). In Bartleby, The Scrivener, Herman Melville persuades his audience that Transcendentalism is not a rational approach to life by creating the character of Bartleby, who exhibits the characteristics

Thoreau inspired countless people, including Jon Krakauer and Chris McCandless through his novel Walden. His main intent through writing this novel is to display that in modern society, most people, although free, have

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau contributed greatly to the American society. First of all, Ralph Waldo Emerson pushed the idea of thinking for oneself, instead of falling into the norm of society and other people’s ideas. Emerson insists on learning by individual experience and not what you learn in textbook. In his essay “Self-Reliance”, this idea is evident in the quote “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (1337). Emerson shows that it is important, even when everyone else is thinking the same way that you create and persist your individualism and

In today’s society, it appears that every week the general public is raving about a new app that was released or some newly created piece of technology. Week in and week out magazines and news sources highlight the newest inventions and and must-have items, encouraging the public to rush for the stores to acquire the new big thing. While such a concept is commonplace in today’s society, there was a time when this idea of materialism was a rarity, and, to a certain extent, frowned upon. American Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement during the 1820s and ‘30s, that emphasized the importance and purity of the individual, and argued that society and its institutions corrupted the purity of every individual. Transcendentalism

Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau were two men who were willing to give up their entire lives and follow their Transcendentalist ideology. It didn’t matter that they lived in different time periods and had completely different histories, they both would abandon their lives in search of transcendentalist freedom.

American Transcendentalism was an important philosophical and literary movement which placed an emphasis on staying true to one’s beliefs and expressing oneself no matter the situation or consequence. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau fully embraced these beliefs as their influence has allowed these

Emerson has a great style of writing that opens the eyes on readers to new perspectives. Emerson wanted the future societies to change their ways and he

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." Transcendentalist believed in being independent and self-reliant as well as appreciating nature. Transcendentalism occurred in the 1800s in the United States. Transcendentalist believed that one should not rely on others and should rely solely on themselves. They also believe that nature was important in the world and should not be taken for granted. Artist from 2000 up to now share these common beliefs with transcendentalist. One of these artist is Trisha Yearwood who had the song Real Live Woman. Another artist who has a song that follows their beliefs is Lee Ann Womack. Lee Ann Womack has the song I Hope You Dance which also follows along with the beliefs of transcendentalist. Some of the beliefs that transcendentalist had was believing in independence and they also believed in appreciating nature and everything in it for example Lee Ann Womack sings about nature and what happens in it and Trisha Yearwood in one of her songs sings about the importance of being self-reliant and independent she also talks about social reforms and not doing things that is set up by society.

So how did Emerson and Thoreau change our lives? Without their pioneering essays on such subjects as “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, we might never be able to express ourselves without worries of fitting into the constraints and the conformity of our society. We might never be able to “Dance to the beat of our own

Although Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau shared similar views and beliefs relating to Transcendentalism, the approach each author took in writing and making the ideas that were so important and concrete was not always so closely related. Thoreau's argument calls for less government and more independence while Emerson's consistence need for more self-reliance and independence from others. Thoreau viewed God as the higher authority over government, “The church is a sort of hospital for men's souls and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies.” (Walden) In "Self-Reliance," Emerson express the idea that the individual should be completely reliant on God. “When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet

Herman Melville, the author of Bartleby, The Scrivener, was born in 1819 and published his novella in 1853 (Biography.com Editors). In his novella, a successful lawyer of Wall Street hires a scrivener, named Bartleby, who begins the story as a very good worker, and then he declines to work by saying “I’d prefer not to” to the commands given to him. After Bartleby refuses to leave his firm, The Lawyer moves his firm to a different location to abandon Bartleby, who is arrested and placed in prison where he eventually dies from starvation. Melville’s intended audience was the readers of Putnam’s Monthly Magazine literate enough to understand his message. Writing for Putnam’s Monthly “enabled him to reach a large number of readers receptive to his literary interests and social concerns” (Talley 81). This time period also marks the beginning of a new idealistic philosophy. The philosophy of Transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism (“Transcendentalism”). Its adherents yearned for intense spiritual experiences and sought to transcend the purely material world of reason and rationality (“Transcendentalism”). Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most famous and influential Transcendentalists (“Transcendentalism”). Three of the more prominent characteristics of Transcendentalists are disobedient, isolated, and nonmaterialistic. Thoreau supported disobedience in his essay titled “Essay on Civil

The American Renaissance was a revolution for literature and writers in America itself that emphasized cultural authority. The American Renaissance took place throughout the nineteenth century, primarily in the early segment of this era. According to, The Norton Anthology of American Literature, “the idea of American Renaissance has been so influential in part of the literature of this time period, and was crucial to the development of American literary traditions” (4). This created a diverse movement apart of the American Renaissance reform called, Transcendentalism. The Transcendentalism period which outlined majority of the Renaissance, was led by writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Transcendentalism is largely defined by the ideals of, religion, self reliance, civil disobedience, individualism, idealism, nonconformity, and nature. Emerson outlined the reform and countless parts of these Transcendentalism ideals, for writers soon to follow this movement. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, presents Emerson’s language as, “…no American writer who placed greater importance on the reader’s active interpretive role in generating new meanings and new ways of seeing the world” (214). Ralph Waldo Emerson’s language was a formation composed of idealism and a philosophical literary movement. Founding father Ralph Emerson, contributed to Transcendentalism by the primary ideals of Nature, and Individualism. These ideals are all exhibited in Emerson’s essays, “Nature”,