Transcript Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism and Ralph
Waldo Emerson
What is Transcendentalism?
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Transcendentalism was
a literary movement
that flourished during
the middle 19th Century
(1836 – 1860).
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It was the summit of
American Romanticism
How was Transcendentalism formed?
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A group of New Englanders, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Margaret
Fuller, about 30 people, mostly teachers and
clergymen, formed a Transcendentalist Club and
met regularly to discuss matters of interest and
published a journal, The Dial （《日晷》） to
express their opinions.
The word Transcendentalism, meaning that
knowledge can be obtained through mental
process apart from experiences, Emerson said,
Transcendentalism means idealism.
Resources of Transcendentalism
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The term was derived from the Latin verb
transcendere: to rise above , to pass
beyond the limits.
Appeared in 1830, marked the maturity of
American romanticism.
Rise of Transcendentalism: the product of
combination of foreign influence (German
romanticism(intuition), neo-Platonism(spirit),
Oriental mysticism, Confucius and Mencius)
and American native Puritan tradition.
Core Beliefs of Transcendentalism
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First, the Transcendentalist placed emphasis on
spirit, or the oversoul, as the most important
thing in the universe. The Oversoul was an allprevailing power for God is omnipresent (无处不在
的）and omnipotent （无所不能的）, from which all
things came and of which all were a part. It existed
in nature and man alike. The individual soul of man
could go beyond the physical limits of the body,
emerge himself with nature, and share the
omniscience（全知） of the Oversoul.
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Secondly, Transcendentalists stressed the
importance of the individual. To them, the
individual was the most important element of
society. The possibilities for man to develop and
improve himself are infinite.
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Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh
perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit.
To them, nature was not purely matter. It was
alive, filled with God’s overwhelming presence
on the human mind. The physical world was a
symbol of the spiritual and all things in nature
tended to be symbolic.
超验主义
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超验主义的主要思想观点有三。
首先，超验主义者强调精神，或超灵，认为这是宇宙至为重要
的存在因素。超灵是一种无所不容、无所不在、扬善抑恶的力
量，是万物之本、万物之所属，它存在于人和自然界内
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其二，超验主义者强调个人的重要性。他们认为个人是社会的
最重要的组成部分，社会的革新只能通过个人的修养和完善才
能实现。因此人的首要责任就是自我完善，而不是刻意追求金
玉富贵。理想的人是依靠自己的人。
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其三，超验主义者以全新的目光看待自然，认为自然界是超灵
或上帝的象征。在他们看来，自然界不只是物质而已。它有生
命，上帝的精神充溢其中，它是超灵的外衣。因此，它对人的
思想具有一种健康的滋补作用。超验主义主张回归自然，接受
它的影响，以在精神上成为完人。这种观点的自然内涵是，自
然界万物具象征意义，外部世界是精神世界的体现
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Transcendentalist:
bring
Transcendentalism to
New England
Believe in individualism,
independence of mind,
self-reliance
poet, philosopher,
public lecturer, and
essayist
1803-1882
Emerson’s Early Life
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Born on Election Day in
1803 in Boston, MA.
Born on the same
street as the birth home
of Benjamin Franklin.
Father was a famous
minister who
encouraged young
Ralph to pursue
philosophy at a young
age.
Early Trials
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Father passes away at age
8 and Emerson is left to
support his four other
brothers.
Ralph was asked to share a
coat with his brother
Edward to save finances.
Despite the hardships, all
the Emerson boys, except
one, graduated from
Harvard University.
Teacher and Priest
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After graduation,
Emerson became a
school teacher in
suburban Boston.
1823 graduated from
seminary school （神学
院）and became a
priest to follow in the
footsteps of his father.
Introduction to Transcendental
Thought
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In 1831 makes his first
trip to England where
he meets poets Samuel
Taylor Coleridge and
William Wordsworth
who introduce him to
Romantic notions of
nature and philosophy.
Transcendentalist Philosopher
Returns to Concord,
MA in 1835 and
writes his first
important work
Nature which
describes how
humans find God
within nature:
“In the woods is
perpetual youth… In
the woods we return
to reason and faith.”
Famous Lecturer
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Emerson went on to
become a famous lecturer
sharing his transcendental
philosophy throughout the
country. Among his
quotable phrases:
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“Trust thyself: every heart
vibrates to that iron string.”
“To be great is to be
misunderstood.”
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Late Life and Death
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Upset in the 1860s by
the coming of the Civil
War, lived a quiet life
with his family.
His house burnt to the
ground in 1872.
Died on April 27th, 1882.
Critical Response
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Emerson was the dominant spirit of the age, the
proponent(支持者，拥护者） of “the American
newness” .
— Irving Howe
“the voice oracular（预言） who challenged the
bitter knowledge of his monstrous dead, unprofitable
world.”
— Mathew Arnold
Emerson was the initial force on which Thoreau built,
to which Whitman gave extension, and to which
Hawthorne and Melville were indebted…
—F. O. Matthiessen
Emerson’s Major Work
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Nature: the Bible of Transcendentalism
The American Scholar, regarded as
“Declaration of Intellectual Independence”
Self reliance, the importance of cultivating
oneself
The Maxims of Emerson
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Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron
string.
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your
mind.
Insist on yourself…never imitate .
Envy is ignorance, and imitation is suicide.
The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost
the use of his feet.
Even the corpse has its beauty
Appreciating Nature
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How was Transcendentalism embodied in
Emerson’s Nature?
What is Emerson’s idea about the relationship
between man and nature?
According to Emerson, what is the distinction
between adult and children?
Nature
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Introduction
1. Nature
2. Commodity
3. Beauty
4. Language
5. Discipline
6. Idealism
7. Spirit
8. Prospects
The Main Idea of chapter 1
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1.1 To have a direct relation with nature, with
God's divine creation, simply go out and look at
the stars.
1.2 The mind must be open to the appearances of
nature in order to achieve true wisdom.
1.3 The mind that is truly open to nature's own
truth is poetic. There is a difference between the
poet and the engineer. The purpose or end of
nature for the engineer or practical business
person is that nature is a source of raw materials
for human use; the purpose or end of nature for
the poet is that nature is a beautiful order. The
engineer sees the part; the poet sees the whole.
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1.4 Because most of us look at nature only with
our own desires in mind, we do not really see
nature. We need to look at nature as if we were
little children, without adult cares and needs.
Adults are morally corrupt; children are innocent
and able to have a direct relation with God's
design. But an adult can be childlike if he or she
is virtuous.
Nature arouses all the emotions in us, because
there is something emotional in nature. The
infinity of nature absorbs the finiteness of the
human self.
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The finite self ascends to the divine
perspective of God, it rises to the God'sEye view of the world: "I become a
transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all;
the currents of the Universal Being
circulate through me; I am part or particle
of God."
In the wilderness there is something that is
as beautiful as humanity. Emerson's idea
of the self in wilderness as an all-seeing
spectator is very different than Thoreau's
idea. For Thoreau, the self in wilderness is
active.
1.5
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There is a relation of correspondence or analogy
between human being and all natural beings: for
instance, there is a spiritual (occult) relation
between people and plants. Nature and spirit
mirror one another. This is an old Neoplatonic
idea, which also flourished in the Rennaisance
(Paracelsus), and which around Emerson's time
was talked about by Emanuel Swedenborg.
Swedenborg founded a new semi-Christian
religious sect. It was sort of "New Age".
1.6
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What is essential is to be in harmony with nature.
But to be in harmony with nature is to be in
harmony with God's design; it is to be morally
virtuous. Our relation with nature is emotional
and spiritual: "Nature always wears the colors of
the spirit." We project our emotions into nature,
and nature reflects them back to us. Nature is a
mirror of the moral state of the soul.
Sentences Explain
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One might think the atmosphere was made
transparent with this design, to give man, in the
heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the
sublime.
可以这样说，我们假想，大气之所以透明，就是为
了让人们看到天国的灿烂光芒。
But every night come out these envoys of beauty,
and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
然而，每一晚，这些美的使者都会降临，以它们无
可置疑的微笑，照亮宇宙。
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The stars awaken a certain reverence, because
though always present, they are inaccessible; but
all natural objects make a kindred impression,
when the mind is open to their influence .
星辰唤醒心中的景仰，即使它们常在，也遥远而
不可触摸；而当思想敞开心门，自然景物总会留
下熟稔而亲切的印迹。
The lover of nature is he whose inward and
outward senses are still truly adjusted to
each other; who has retained the spirit of
infancy even into the era of manhood.
自然的热爱者，内向和外向的感觉尚能和谐的相
应，他尚能在成年时保有婴儿的心灵。
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I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the
currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part
or particle of God.
我变成一个透明的眼球，我化为乌有，我却遍览一切；宇宙精神
的湍流环绕激荡着我。我成为上帝的一部分，我是他的微粒。
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Nature always wears the colors of the spirit
自然总是折射着观者的精神状态。
Classical Sentences from
Nature
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To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as
much from his chamber as from society.
All natural objects make a kindred impression,
when the mind is open to their influence. Nature
never wears a mean appearance.
I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I
see all; the currents of the Universal Being
circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.
Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.