Transcendentalism: Human and American Scholar

transcendentalism in the States The transcendentalist movework forcet hit the States full military strength by the mid 19th century, crafting a passionate spiritual noble-mindedness in its wake and leaving a unique mark on the history of American literature. transcendentalism stems from the broader Ro manhoodticist snip period, which depends on run a wrap up earlier than reasoning. Transcendentalism takes a step further into the realm of spirituality with the principle that in coiffure to discover the divine truth that the item-by-item seeks, he or she must transcend, or exceed, the everyday pitying experience in the visible world (Elements of Literature Fifth Course 146). constitution, the physical world, is seen as a doorway to the divine world beings can cross over into this divine world by non only observant disposition, but also looking within themselves. As a result, unmarriedisation and self-assurance be seen as virtues, since they enter from the heart of the individual. William Cullen Bryant and his metrical composition Thanatopsis, Ralph Waldo Emersons The American Scholar, and Walt Whitmans A Noiseless uncomplaining Spider completely display fundamental characteristics of Transcendentalism.William Cullen Bryant was a famous American poet of the 1800s, integrating major themes of transcendentalism into his poems and short stories. Thanatopsis is one of Bryants most famous whole kit, and combines the themes of nature, final stage, and the wiz of these two with charitableity. He starts by personifying nature, and claims he has a unique human relationship with her and only her different forms, referring to sights that adorn the landscape. V exclusivelyeys, brooks, and plant life are each(prenominal) her different forms.Bryant explains that nature speaks differently to an individual according to their mood parley with her visible forms, she speaks/A different language for his gayer hours/She has a voice of gladness, and a smile (2-4). When that individuals attitude changes, so does natures character and she glides/Into his darker musings, with a mild/And healing sym directiony, that steals away/Their sharpness, ere he is aware. (5-8). record seemingly heals the individuals pain to begin with they are assured of it. Bryant then transfers to the melancholy thoughts of demolition.He tell aparts that when we die, we go away become one with nature. He describes all the ways the earth go away reuse us in the soil, for the trees, and we allow for become as indifferent as rocks that scatter ab come on the world. Therefore, we should not feel disheartened towards ending. He continues to persuade the reader not to worry, for everyone go away one day lie d ingest in one mightily sepulcher (37) together. He ends on the note that we should not greet death with hopelessness, as if entering a prison, but embrace it as if it were in force(p) an opportunity to lie down and sleep dreamily.Transcendentalis m is a sector of romanticism, and therefore, worry romanticism, can be said to encompass the philosophy of reverence for nature (Benets Readers Encyclopedia). Many transcendentalist believers took to nature to gain inspiration and descend into a state of divinity. Wildlife was connected to God, and by embracing the wild you embraced spirituality itself. Living in an untamed environment and functioning in the works of nature was the burden of transcendentalism.Bryant perceives the personified record as a celestial being that takes many forms in the world, and he calls start to those who see her similarly. In his premier(prenominal) line he addresses To him who in the love of Nature holds/ Communion with her visible forms(1-2). He is handicraft out to those who hold a special relationship with Natures various spectacles. He continues to admire natures wisdom, urging readers to Go forth, under the open sky, and list/To Natures teachings, while from all around/ Earth and her water s, and the depths of air/Comes a still voice (14-17).One originator notes Thanatopsis then exhorts anyone overcome with morbid thoughts of human death rate to venture into Nature for the sake of uplifting lessons to be derived from the elements of air, earth, and water that constitute the universe (Curley). another(prenominal) characteristic of the transcendental literary time period is human mortality, and this is the primary(prenominal) concern in Thanatopsis, which literally translates into a meditation on death. As one critic puts it, Thanatopsis grants consolation for human mortality through and through mankinds unity with nature (Curley).Death, no matter what time period it is observed in, can be daunting to an individual. Since death is a part of nature, transcendentalism embraces it as a cycle of life. Thanatopsis is intertwined with the perspective of nature, it is Natures lessons that ease the fear of death Nature then begins to speak, and does so for the re main(preno minal)der of the poem, directly addressing the person oppressed by human mortality with a reminder that while the embody will dissolve in the grave, ones identity will be baffled in its commingling with the elements. (Price).Many transcendentalists like this idea of the human body be sexual climax one with nature, large back to the place from where it originated, such(prenominal) as in Bryants speech communication Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim/Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again/And, lost each human trace, surrendering up/Thine individual being, shalt thou go(22-25). The main reason transcendentalists do not dread mortality is the solace that the body will dissolve in the grave, ones identity will be lost in its commingling with the elements (Curley). Additionally, Bryant offered further explanations as to why death should be accepted, rather than fled from.Humanity itself is not permanent, and no man has ever been idol Bryant amplifies this truth All that brea the/Will share thy unavoidableness. The gay will laugh/When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care/ plug away on, and each one as before will chase/His favored phantom yet all these shall leave (60-64). To this, one critic comments an individuals death merges with the mortality of the entire human race anyplace in time, anywhere in place, and therefore, merely fulfills the universal human destinyThe living may be carefree or sad, but in the end they share the same mortal fate (Curley).Ralph Waldo Emerson also exemplified various themes of transcendentalism in his work. Emersons The American Scholar encourages individualism, nonconformity, originality, and reliance on the inner spirit. He discusses different sources that the human mind should rely on, such as nature, literature, and fulfil. He embraces an understanding of oneself. Emerson criticizes those who focus too much on the great minds of the past tense, rather than being inspired by them, and dont actually think for them selves.He explains that work leaves an individual empty, almost bonnie a simple machine, like the growing factories in America. Emerson directs this speech at a particular issue Americas influence from European literature. This came to cod Emerson, who believed in inspiration from oneself. The individual is so special. This speech directly targets Americas unknown identity during this time, which he wishes to establish by shake up each and every American scholar.An important aspect of transcendentalism in The American Scholar was individualism and self-confidence If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him (The American Scholar). Individualism is what spins the planet of creativity to Emerson, without it human beings would not be able to achieve their full potential. In order for a person to free their individuality, they would take in to first disengage from caller itself. Emerson believes that society li mits an individuals capacity.One critic notes that Emerson sees the American scholar as a reformation project, where one must have an idealized portrait of talented life rooted in the liberated humanity of the individual thinker. In practice this means an outright rejection of conformity and groupthink, including the uncritical acceptance of open creeds and dogmas (Yang). Before the transcendentalism period hit America, industrialization had taken a toll on the American hoi polloi work was the central focus, and it remaining many tired and empty.Emerson observed, Equated with their occupational function, people become tool-like, with a similar social arrangement that reinforces this state of affairs. He views this deformation as implicit in(p) in the mercantile and manufacturing culture then emerging in the linked States. This social fragmentation not only inhibits human potential its soul-destroying consequences are dehumanizing (Matuozzi). Another more obscure issue that Em erson dealt with was Americas magnetic inclination to hang on to past great writers and philosophers, rather than coming to revelations with their own minds.As Emerson put it, Books are written on it the world by thinkers, not by Man Thinking, by men of talent, that is, who start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles. Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books (The American Scholar).One critic explains this quote Emerson criticizes those scholars who allow themselves to be dominated by the past great minds to the extent that they think for the historical figures rather than for themselves, thereby becoming bookworms instead of Man Thinking (Yang). While looking to historical figures is oft needed to understand what a person needs to do in their life, it does more harm than devout to sculpt yourself into that exact person. It is confidence in oneself that is needed for transcendentalist philosophy to prevail. A central theme in The American Scholar is striving for wholeness. Since this private aspiration is linked with an individualist ethic and often clashes with social norms and public institutions, Emersons project would seem to shoot a powerful will the harmonization of will, intellect, and soul is difficult, perhaps the boss impediment to the full realization of self-reliance and self-trustIn the end, Emersons borrowing of self-reliant individualism in The American Scholar is an unwavering rejection of whatever blunts creative human potential.Wherever circumstances threaten the value of autonomy, the outspoken depicted object of The American Scholar will offer encouragement, proving a clear utility(a) to debilitating conformity and spiritual alienation. (Matuozzi) Emerson also expands on the idea of action. Without it, transcendentalism would be nothing but talk of reformation. It would do no good to anyone in the world. Transcendentalist ideas were based on constantly living, rather than constantly contemplating. Emerson sees that action is relevant to human potential. The scholar immerses him- or herself in the world rather than fleeing it. The world is an occasion to gain valuable knowledge through focused, cognizant participation. (Matuozzi). The critic is directly stemming from a statement made in The American Scholar by Emerson Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it he is not yet man. Without it thought can never ripen into truth. Whilst the world hangs before the eye as a cloud of beauty, we cannot even see its beauty. inaction is cowardice, but there can be no scholar without the adventurous mind. (The American Scholar). A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman has a key trait of the characteristics of transcendentalism as well. The first stanza of th e poem starts out by describing one isolated wanderer. Whitman describes the actions of this roamer, as it flings its filaments, or silk webs, into the air. The arachnid is doing this in the hope of latching on to just about sort of solid, stable surface. This would ensure it an slow groundwork for setting up the rest of its web. The observer in the poem remarks that he can see this spider as it repeats this tedious project over and over again.In the second stanza, Whitman changes perspectives, instead focused on a human mortal. In the first stanza, the poet saw the desolate world the spider resided in. I markd where on a little promontory it stood isolated/Markd how to explore the vacant vast skirt (2-3). In the second stanza, the poet takes this lone spider and turns the creature into a parableical form of the human soul. He describes how his own soul is Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them (8).Just like the spider, uncertain of its f uture, the human soul also wanders about aimlessly, hoping to grasp something stable that it can vex to. It is just as lonesome. This literary piece adds to the transcendental theme of the unknown. Oftentimes, people queue themselves drifting along in life, not knowing where they are headed. A miniscule spider, attempting to chart a boundless vacuity with grossly inadequate equipment, becomes a living symbol of the pathetic plight of human mortality. The human soul, too, must deal with the unknown. (Scherle). We search for a purpose, a centre in our lives that will stabilize us. The experience of the spider becomes a metaphor symbolizing the souls quest for the unification of earthly and celestial existencethe person visualizes in the spiders action a reflection of the pathetic yet heroic struggle he is waging to find immortality. (Scherle). Without purpose, a person can stray from a better path transcendentalists found comfort in knowing that the unknown is connected with some mystical higher being.As one critic notes, The sense of human insignificance is foolish (Scherle). Along those lines, Whitman shows that finding that sole purpose can be a long and tiresome task. Oftentimes it is repetitive and dismal, and the outcome is unspecified. Everything (immortality) is hanging on a silken thread, which is being tossed tentatively and figuratively into an unidentified, undefined somewhere (Scherle). Whitman sees his soul in Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space just as the spider stood isolated in a vacant vast surrounding (2-7).What the critic realizes is that A Noiseless Patient Spider is a poem about lonelinessthis is a loneliness that grows out of an inherent tendency of the body and soul to attempt to unite with an elusive divine entity in order to gain immortality (Scherle). Whitman uses the transcendental concept of nature as a wayseer for human truth (Scherle). Transcendentalism is portrayed through the literary works of William Cull en Bryant and Thanatopsis, Ralph Waldo Emerson and The American Scholar, and Walt Whitman and A Noiseless Patient Spider. Thanatopsis exemplifies themes of nature and death.Transcendentalists immersed themselves in the natural world to connect with the divine otherworld. The American Scholar argued that in order to transcend the human body into a spiritual realm, you must first disengage from society. A Noiseless Patient Spider explains the isolation and irresolution we have throughout our lives. We search for purpose and reason, never knowing what to expect. Transcendentalism was a unique literary time period in America that consisted of a love for nature, the divine, and the individual human mind. Works Cited Page * Romanticism. HarperCollins Benets Readers Encyclopedia. 1996). ebscohost. Web. 18 Mar 2013. * Price, Victoria. Thanatopsis, Poems. capital of Oregon thrust Masterplots. (2010). ebscohost. Database. 18 Mar 2013. * Curley, Thomas M. Thanatopsis, Poems. capital of O regon Press Masterplots II. (2010). ebscohost. Database. 18 Mar 2013. * Scherle, Phillis J. A Noiseless Patient Spider, Leaves of Grass. Salem Press Masterplots II (2002). ebscohost. Database. 18 Mar 2013. * Matuozzi, Robert N. A Noiseless Patient Spider, Leaves of Grass. Salem Press Masterplots (2010). ebscohost. Database. 18 Mar 2013. * Yang, Vincent. The American Scholar. Salem Press Magills