Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists

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Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists

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Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists. Puritanism. “Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” H.L. Mencken Major Ideas: Persecuted in England for going against the Protestant church/government Sought to “purify” the church. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists

Page 1: Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists

Puritans, Romantics and Transcendentalists

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Puritanism• “Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” H.L.

Mencken

• Major Ideas:• Persecuted in England for going against the Protestant church/government• Sought to “purify” the church. • Religion was an individual, personal, and internal experience. • The individual’s relationship with God was not determined by a member of the clergy or

the government. • Believed that all humans were damned, but that some were meant to be saved.• Fate was pre-determined-- one couldn’t “save” oneself, but if one led a good life, one

would be able to see the “signs” that meant one were saved• Only God’s grace was an individual’s salvation. • Contract-based government—beginnings of democracy (Salem Witch Trials)• Business was an important part of community, as was education

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Puritan Writing

• Bible=model as people searched for connections between their lives and biblical events

• Each individual’s life was a spiritual journey, so recorded in diaries and historical documents describing the workings of God.

• Known for plain style of writing emphasizing clarity and avoiding complicated figures of speech

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Puritan Writers

• Anne Bradstreet• William Bradford• Mary Rowlandson• Reverend Jonathan Edwards

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Salem Witch Trials

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The First Thanksgiving

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The Romantics

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Transcendentalism:

• Developed in the 1830s both in connection with, and in opposition to Romanticism

• Transcendentalism refers to the idea that in finding God, the universe, and the self/soul, one must transcend typical human experience in the physical world

•Marked by a “return” to nature, and trust in intuition rather than deliberate rationality and intellectualism

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Transcendentalism• Believed that self-reliance

and individualism must outweigh external authority, and self-improvement leads to social improvement

• Worked to find the “permanent reality that underlies physical appearance”

• Optimism about the potential of individual lives and the universe

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Transcendentalist Humor

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Famous Transcendentalists• Ralph Waldo Emerson AKA

Lead Transcendentalist• Henry David Thoreau AKA

neighbor and friend to L.T.• Margret Fuller AKA one of

the first major feminist writers in the US

• Amos Bronson Alcott AKA father to Louisa May Alcott

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Henry David Thoreau

• 1817-1862, born in Concord, MA.• Went to Harvard, very well-read, but many felt

he squandered his talents and connections (including Emerson)

• Influenced by Emerson• Went “into the woods” to journey inwards in a T.

fashion. Built a small cabin on Emerson’s land two miles from town. Lived there for three years, writing, thinking, and studying life

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Thoreau

• Wrote “Resistance to Civil Government” while on Walden Pond after being arrested for not paying poll tax (supported Mexican-American War) because he felt it extended slavery.

• Died in 1862. Apparently asked on his deathbed if he’s made peace with God (by his aunt). His reply: “I didn’t know that we had ever quarreled.”

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Walden Pond

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Thoreau

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“Resistance to Civil Government”

• Response to being jailed for one night for not paying poll tax

• Discusses the role of the individual in society and to his/her government

• Employs rhetoric devices of: ethos, logos, pathos

• Inspired authors and thinkers like MLK and Gandhi around passive/non-violent resistance

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Ethos, Logos, Pathos

• Ethos is appeal based on the character of the speaker or moral or widely accepted values and/or standards

• Logos is appeal based on logic or reason; it uses facts, examples, and well-reasoned arguments.

• Pathos: is an appeal based on emotion and language and anecdotes that arouse strong feelings.

• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/group4/