American Transcendentalism

Belief in an ideal spiritual state “transcending” the physical and empirical

Can be only realized through the individual’s intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions

For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains.

=> The Rise of American Individualism

Song of Myself-by Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume.For every atom belonging to me as good belong

s to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear o

f summer grass.

Song of Myself-by Walt Whitman

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,

Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, and their parents the same,

I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,

Hoping to cease not till death.

Song of Myself-by Walt Whitman

Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring back a while sufficed at what

they are, but never forgotten,I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak

at every hazard,Nature without check with original

energy.

Romanticism

The “Romantic Period” refers to literary and cultural movements in England, Europe, and America roughly from 1770 to 1860.

Romantic writers saw themselves as revolting against the “Age of Reason” (1700-1770) and its values.

Romantic writers celebrated imagination/intuition versus reason/calculation, spontaneity versus control, subjectivity versus objective fact, and individualism versus social conformity.

Romantic vs Non-Romantic/Classical

Emotional Individualistic Revolutionary Loves Solitude &

Nature Fantasy/Introspection The Particular Subjective Perception Satisfaction of Desire Creative

Energy/Power

Reasonable and Practical

Public Responsibility Conservative Loves Public, Urban

Life External Reality The Universal Objective Science Desire Repressed Form

American Romanticism (1828-1865)

Conditions that influenced American Romanticism:

- Frontier promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom.

- Spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier.

- Immigration brought new cultures and perspectives.

- Absence of Tradition => Search for new spiritual roots

American Romanticism (1828-1865)

1. Belief in natural goodness of man, that man in a state of nature would behave well but is hindered by civilization.

2. Sincerity, spontaneity, and faith in emotion as markers of truth. (Doctrine of sensibility)

3. Belief that what is special in a man is to be valued over what is representative.

4. Nature as a source of instruction, delight, and nourishment for the soul;  return to nature as a source of inspiration and wisdom; celebration of man’s connection with nature.

5. Affirmation of the values of democracy and the freedom of the individual.

American Romanticism (1828-1865)

6. High value placed on finding connection with the fresh, spontaneous in nature and self.

7. Aspiration after the sublime and the wonderful, that which transcends mundane limits.

8. In art, the sublime, the grotesque, the picturesque, and the beautiful with a touch of strangeness all were valued above the Neoclassical principles of order, proportion, and decorum.

9. Belief in perfectibility of man; spiritual force immanent not only in nature but in mind of man.