Transcendentalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the giants during the 19th century American Transcendentalism movement. Their influential work brought upon shared beliefs on concerning spiritual perspectives, government interference, and the ideology of cultural values in American society. Nature has a multitude of meaning if looked at it from all angles, but deeper within nature is the reflection of what you exert while in it. However they agree on the human condition, the two authors speak with different tones that reflect how nature affects the entirety of man’s spirit. While both Emerson and Thoreau practice the spirit of the human condition, Emerson focused his energy on how “[nature’s] philosophical import [is]…unchanged by man” (215.) where Thoreau implied that we are “subjects of an experiment” (1051).

Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, central figures of Transcendentalism, expressed their beliefs through works such as “American Scholar” and “Into the Woods” in the nineteenth century. They believed that one must be in simplicity, solitude, and away from technology to appreciate the beauty of nature, which is essential for a better spiritual understanding of oneself. Transcendentalism, which focuses on spiritual interactions with nature, is relevant in today’s hectic life with temptations of materialistic goods and burdens of technology. The retreat that Webb offers every year is a good example of how Transcendentalism shapes students to have spiritual richness and mental strength. On retreats, students go off campus with bare necessities for three days to camp sites in nature to reflect and appreciate the beauty of the outdoors. Viewed through the lens of Transcendentalism, retreats allow students to prepare for a new and busy school year to come by helping them to realize their own goals, to get rid of distractions of technology, to get inspired by nature for a better understanding of themselves, and to enjoy a moment of solitude to truly reflect on the deeper meanings of life.

Transcendentalists believe that using their principles, humanity can inch closer and closer to utopia, the perfect society. Transcendentalism, the flawed doctrine, instead leads its adherents on the road to nowhere, and many of the principles fail spectacularly when applied in real life. Transcendentalism is too idealistic to be realistic. Simply put, transcendentalism is wrong. Their ideals are not just incorrect, they are potentially dangerous.

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

Transcendentalism is the American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century that was rooted in the pure Romanticism of the English and the German (Goodman). Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered the father of Transcendentalism because his literature is the first to praise the notable spirituality of nature. The basic belief of the movement is to live authentically; being true to oneself (Day). The movement itself, in the years 1840-1860, is fertile in knowledge because people are now beginning to ask questions about religion. Questions about religion, at the time, would most likely consist of origin, morality, and rituals. Because of the complex level of

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that began in the late 1820s and 1830s in eastern United States. This movement was a reaction to all the protesting going on against intellectualism and spirituality. For the transcendentalists, the individual was the center of the universe. No institution, whether is was religion or politics, was greater and more powerful than the human itself. Ralph Waldo and Henry David Thoreau were two very famous writers that made up most of the Transcendental movement.

Transcendentalism was a philosophy that emerged in America around the late 1820s. It arose as a response to Calvinist Puritanism. Many of its beliefs, however, contradict Scripture.

In the early 19th century transcendentalism became a philosophical movement that arose the ideas of understanding life in the simplest of terms. From Thoreau to Emerson, they expressed the ideas of nonconforming from society in order to live in simplicity. Although transcendentalist ideas tend to come and go, society alters the appeal as the influence of transcendentalism occurs in many forms today.

Transcendentalism was an early philosophical, intellectual, and literary movement that thrived in New England in the nineteenth century. Transcendentalism was a collection of new ideas about literature, religion, and philosophy. It began as a squabble in the Unitarian church when intellectuals began questioning and reacting against many of the church’s orthodoxy ways regarding all of the aforementioned subjects: religion, culture, literature, social reform, and philosophy. They in turn developed their own faith focusing on the divinity of humanity and the innate world. Many of the Transcendentalists ideas were expressed heavily by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essays such as “Nature”, “Self Reliance”, and also in his poems such as “The

In the early mid-nineteenth century, a philosophical movement known as transcendentalism took root and flourished in America. It evolved into a predominantly literary expression which placed an emphasis on the corruptions of organized religion, political parties, and societal involvement; above all, the movement promoted the wonders of “nature” and its deep connection to the divine. The adherents through transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be arrived through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit rather than by the means of the senses. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embrace the principles of nature

Ralph Waldo Emerson is considered the father of Transcendentalism. Emerson’s perspective of humans gravitates towards a godly path, in simpler words he emphasized the fact that humans share characteristics with god. He wrote some of the major works of the movement. Spiritual laws and Nature are two of his well-known essays. On the other hand, Dark romanticists such as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne explore more human-centered topics avoiding all topics concerned with the divine.

Transcendentalism was an American literature movement urging people to look past everyday material life, and reach into their souls to find inner peace with themselves. Transcendentalism originally came from Kantian idealism. This idealism was credited by Immanuel Kant.

In this spirit I have just discovered Emerson. For forty years I have known something about him, of course—that he was a mystical philosopher; the apostle of transcendentalism in America….” (Abbot, lines 9-10). From within the text of the author of this quote, it can be seen the shear praise and gratitude held for a man by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson as mentioned in the quote, is considered to be the apostle of transcendental thought in America, however he himself did not like the name transcendentalism, and prefered idealism for his revolutionary outlook on thought. Emerson is considered the

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “he who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life”. Emerson discovered the secret of life through his exploration of nature and its divinity. Emerson, a former Pastor, attended Harvard Divinity School to pursue the belief of Transcendentalism which is the belief of of divinity pervading all nature and life. In his poems, “Nature”, “Song of Nature”, and “The Humble Bee”, Emerson uses insightful symbolism and influential diction in order to convey the idea of divinity being the core of

Religion is a major component in the life of many people with the first practice of religion dating back to the nearly 4000 BCE with the finding of Egyptian myths (Religion Timeline). As the times have changed, so has religion branching off from Orthodox Judaism and Protestant Christianity to the Reformed Judaism and Mormonism have created religious conflicts that churches fought against each other based on views that they might not agree with. With all churches and members of these churches participating in challenging their own and other churches, Ralph Waldo Emerson went in a different path. He led the Transcendentalist movement that believed that the person could find divinity through nature by keeping an open mind and letting it change them for the good.