Transcendentalism : Ralph Waldo Emerson And Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau’s words that “disobedience is the true foundation of liberty” and that “the obedient must be slaves” is a political statement that never lost its topicality during the Romantic era. Thoreau served as an important contributor to the philosophical and American literary movement known as New England Transcendentalism. Nature and the conduct of life are two central themes that are often weaved together in his essays and books that were published in the Romantic era of literature. Thoreau brought these two themes together to write on how people ought to live a simplistic life through embracing nature. His naturalistic writing intertwined cataloging and observation with Transcendentalist views of nature. Through his life and

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil” -Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self Reliance. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that originated in the 19th century and was primarily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalists’ main beliefs are: self-reliance is essential to one’s life, nature is divine, every person should have an optimistic outlook, and humanity needs to adhere to their personal morals and beliefs. In today’s world we still see a multitude of the beliefs of transcendentalism.

Why is solitude looked down on society? It should be advised by people to start engaging in the concept of solitude. Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless were both transcendentalism that believes in the key fundamental idea that the human body should partake in such as solitude. Henry Thoreau was a transcendentalist that practiced the form of solitude throughout his life. He left society and moved into the woods to be removed from the confines of society. Along with Thoreau, a more modern-day transcendentalist was known as Chris McCandless. McCandless journeyed to the wilderness in Alaska to be able to experience a minimal amount of human interaction along with the solitude that comes with it. The concept of solitude should be

An influential literary movement in the nineteenth century, transcendentalism placed an emphasis on the wonder of nature and its deep connection to the divine. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embraced these principles. In their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, Emerson and Thoreau, respectively, argue for individuality and personal expression in different manners. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson calls for individuals to speak their minds and resist societal conformity, while in “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urged Americans to publicly state their opinions in order to improve their own government.

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.

Transcendentalism was what Emerson and Thoreau touched most with their writings. They took their words, and created something new that many people would later follow. Transcendentalism is the nature of being one with yourself, and learning to better yourself through nature, and self knowledge. The quote from above is an example of what the two figures preached. Emerson believed that consistency of thought was foolished, and he highlighted the fact that having a consistent mind was mindless. He believed people should have an open mind, and be able to look at things in different perspectives.

Emerson, himself was a Transcendentalist and he influenced other people to be one as well because he believed everyone should create their own ideas and not fall to be just another person in a society, take a leap of faith. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried” (Self-Reliance 774). Emerson was able to consider himself a Transcendentalist because he took a leap of faith and always made his very own context as to what he was against, and what he viewed as a current situation. The overall reason Emerson was a transcendentalist is because he created a different view for society and went outside of the norm to create ideas people had yet to even contemplate. Therefore, by creating a new idea for the society, people were able to expand their knowledge and build from Emerson’s ideas. All in all, Emerson believed in his own thoughts so he shared them with the public. As emerson stated as well as lived by, “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men” (Emerson

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 is to understand who oneself is by having confidence, free thought, and self-reliance. It is to isolate themselves from society and find themselves through nature, to find what they want and who they are. They must have self-reliance and leave the people they know, and isolate themselves from society, so they will not be told who they are or who they should be. Going into nature without the luxuries and only the essentials, confidence is imperative. They have to be confident in themselves to know they can survive on their own. Free thought is also crucial because they need to be able to live a simple life and explore new ways to live, while enjoying every second of it and making everything they do meaningful to them. Thoreau

Emerson was a Transcendentalist that stood for his wise famous quote “trust thyself”. He was also one of the founders that created the Transcendentalism movement which was a club made up of well-educated people that had one goal in common, achieve the perfect society. These people questioned religion and were suspicious of political groups that opposed as a threat to their vision of a perfect society. Believing that these organizations ruined the purity in all humanity that caused no one any good. Transcendentalist wanted to break away from the norm and approach a new way of thinking. This group was supported by other famous Transcendentalist like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Walt Whitman. The one who stood out from the

Transcendentalist has a handful of principals from self-reliance to the thought of technology is harmful.The main tenet throughout the paper will focus on the importance of nature. Transcendentalist views nature as a gateway to the spiritual world, a way to the Omnipower. Henry David Thoreau immersed himself into nature fully “The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it”(Thoreau II). Thoreau reveals how he has taken the time to observe nature to its fullest extent. He saw nature as a neighbor who was to be respected just as a man would treat another. Ralph Waldo Emerson a great transcendentalist, a mentor to Thoreau. Emerson’s point of view of nature showed how men and nature can become one to uplift themselves from the worldly shackles. Thoreau and Emerson both had a concept that nature was essentials to mankind, one sought out to respect it and the other viewed as a form of release.Nature is important to transcendentalism because it leads to spiritual connection and harmonization.

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

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

The theme of individualism is present in several of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works. It was also his philosophical views on how to live life. He believed that human beings had remarkable capabilities, more than they can possibly identify. With these capabilities a person should govern themselves, not be governed by a society. Emerson also believed that nature played a large role in how man should act and to follow nature’s actions of growing without obstruction (“Nature”). This is why he lead the Transcendentalism movement in the nineteenth century, along with Theodore Parker, Frederic Henry Hedge, Amos Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller and Henry David Thoreau (Lewis). This philosophy was not only significant then, it was imperative throughout times in history.