Transcript 3 Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Transcendentalism
Hao Guilian, Ph.D.
Yunnan Normal University
Fall, 2009
Historical Background-1
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During the colonial and revolutionary periods
American culture struggled for survival. During
the early nineteenth century it struggled for
individuality. By mid-century it was struggling for
greatness.
A remarkable outburst of creativity marked this
time, especially the years 1840 -1855. Two
famous books about this time---American
Renaissance and The Flowering of New England --suggest in their titles the extraordinary quality
of this period.
Historical Background-2
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A renaissance is a rebirth, a vital period in a culture,
a ripeness that calls forth a concentration of great
writers and artists. Such flowering periods took
place in ancient Athens, in fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury Italy, and in Elizabethan England. The
United States, by mid-nineteenth century, began to
flower. It had achieved self-confidence, prosperity,
and a settled and mature culture. American
expansiveness and the assertion of individualism
seemed to demand a great literature to celebrate
and explain---and to criticize as well---the
mysterious uniqueness of American life.
Transcendentalism-1
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The Transcendentalist movement was a reaction
against 18th century rationalism and a
manifestation of the general humanitarian trend
of 19th century thought. The movement was
based on a fundamental belief in the unity of the
world and God. The soul of each individual was
thought to be identical with the world -- a
microcosm of the world itself. The doctrine of
self- reliance and individualism developed
through the belief in the identification of the
individual soul with God.
Transcendentalism-2
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The publication of Emerson's 1836 essay
Nature is usually taken to be the watershed
moment at which transcendentalism became
a major cultural movement. Emerson wrote in
his essay "The American Scholar": "We will
walk on our own feet; we will work with our
own hands; we will speak our own minds ... A
nation of men will for the first time exist,
because each believes himself inspired by the
Divine Soul which also inspires all men."
Transcendentalism-3
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Transcendentalism was intimately connected
with Concord, a small New England village 32
kilometers west of Boston. It was the first
rural artist‘s colony, and the first place to
offer a spiritual and cultural alternative to
American materialism. It was a place of highminded conversation and simple living, which
attracted people like Emerson, Henry David
Thoreau, the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne,
the feminist writer Margaret Fuller and many
others at various times.
Transcendentalism-4
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Unlike many European groups, the
Transcendentalists never issued a manifesto,
although they did publish a quarterly
magazine, The Dial, which lasted four years
and was first edited by Margaret Fuller and
later by Emerson. They insisted on individual
differences -- on the unique viewpoint of the
individual. American Transcendental
Romantics pushed radical individualism to the
extreme.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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An American essayist, philosopher and poet, best
remembered for leading the Transcendentalist
movement of the early 19th century.
Emerson gradually moved away from the religious
and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating
and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism
in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground
breaking work he gave a speech entitled The
American Scholar in 1837, which Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual
Declaration of Independence". When asked to sum
up his work, he said his central doctrine was “the
infinitude of the private man.”
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As a lecturer and orator,
Emerson—nicknamed the
Concord Sage—became
the leading voice of
intellectual culture in the
United States. Emerson's
religious views were often
considered radical at the
time. He believed that all
things are connected to
God and, therefore, all
things are divine. His
views, the basis of
Transcendentalism,
suggested that God does
not have to reveal the
truth but that the truth
could be intuitively
experienced directly from
nature.
Self-Reliance
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It contains the most solid statement of one of
Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each
individual to avoid conformity and false
consistency, and follow his or her own instincts
and ideas. Emerson's ideas are considered a
reaction to a commercial identity; he calls for a
return to individual identity.
Emerson presupposes that the mind is initially
subject to an unhappy nonconformism.
However, "Self-Reliance" is not anti-society or
anti-community. Instead, Emerson advocates
self-reliance as a starting point, not as a goal.
“Out of panic, self reliance,” by Harold Bloom on
October, 2008, New York Times
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By “self-reliance” Emerson meant the recognition of the
god within us, rather than the worship of the Christian
godhead (a deity that some Americans cannot always
distinguish from themselves). Whether they know it or
not, John McCain and Barack Obama seek power in
just this ultimately serious sense, although that
marvelous passage means one thing to Emersonians of
the right and something very different to Emersonians
of the left. Senator Obama’s mantra of “change”
celebrates the shooting of the gulf, the darting to an
aim, setting aside “the having lived.” Senator McCain’s
“change” reflects what remains most authentic about
him, the nostalgia of the Party of Memory.
“Out of panic, self reliance,” by Harold Bloom on
October, 2008, New York Times
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Barack Obama emanates from the tradition of the
black church, where “the little me within the big
me” is part or particle of God, just as the
Emersonian self was. But he is a subtle intellectual
and will not mistake himself for the Divine, and he
has the curbing influence of Senator Joseph Biden,
a conventional Roman Catholic, at his side. John
McCain’s religiosity is at one with the Party of
Memory, but he has aligned himself with Gov.
Sarah Palin, who, as an Assemblies of God
Pentecostalist, presumably enjoys closer
encounters with the comforting Holy Spirit.
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Regardless of these differences, whoever is
elected will have to forge a solution to today’s
panic through his own understanding of selfreliance. As Emerson knew in his glory and
sorrow, both of himself and all Americans:
“The wealth of the universe is for me. Every
thing is explicable and practical for me .... I
am defeated all the time; yet to victory I am
born.”
Study Questions
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Textbook: p.24
Emerson's central premise is that all
individuals have the potential to be
great, if only they would trust
themselves. Do you agree or disagree?