Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism

• A philisophical and literary movement
• Emphasized living a simple life
• Stressed a close relationship to nature
• Celebrated emotions and the imagination
• Stressed individualism and self-reliance

Transcendentalism

• Believed intuition can lead to knowledge
• Believed in the inherent goodness of people
• Encouraged spiritual well-being over financial well-being

The Transcendentalists:
In the beginning of the movement, the most notable transcendentalists were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
Authors from later in the movement include Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Wallace Stevens.

What prompted this movement?

Is the price of progress ever too high?
During the romantic period, America seemed limitless - new frontiers were being explored every day, and inventions advanced both farming and industry. Yet, to many people, life felt frantic and soulless.

Is it patriotic to protest one's government?
Democracy was flourishing in the early 19th century and citizens felt optimistic about their country. Yet the problems of the age - slavery, women's disenfranchisement, the mistreatment of workers - were severe, and protestors agitated for change.

Where do people look for truth?
To escape materialism and hectic pace of industrialization, many writers of the age turned to nature and to the self for simplicity, truth, and beauty. In earlier centuries, people had looked to reason or to God for answers.

RECAP: Transcendentalism
The transcendentalists disliked the commercial, financial side of American life and stressed instead spiritual well-being, achieved through intellectual activity and a close relationship to nature...

Transcendentalist ideas lived on in American culture through the civil rights movement of the 20th century; however, the optimism began to fade when confronted with the persistence of slavery and the difficulty in abolishing it.

What makes Chris McCandless (AKA: Alexander Supertramp) a transcendentalist?

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."
- Henry David Thoreau