Transcendentalism was a 19th century philosophical movement that emphasized intuition, inspiration, and nature. It was influenced by German idealism and opposed religious dogma. Prominent transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau believed in living close to nature, self-reliance, non-conformity, and that spiritual truths could be directly experienced.

1. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,
by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)

2. American Transcendentalism
(1830s—1860s)
“ It was a high counsel that I once heard given
to a young person, always do what you are
afraid to do.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. Transcendentalism
• A literary movement in the 1830s that
established a clear “American voice”
• Emerson first expressed his philosophy in his
essay “Nature”
• A belief in a higher reality than that achieved
by human reasoning.
• Suggests that every individual is capable of
discovering this higher truth through intuition.

5. • Unlike Puritans, they saw
humans and nature as
possessing an innate
goodness.
“In the faces of men and
women, I see God”
-Walt Whitman
• Opposed strict ritualism
and dogma of established
religion.

7. Transcendentalist Beliefs:
• Believed in living close to nature/importance of
nature. Nature is the source of truth and
inspiration, and every man and woman could
“transcend” the material world.
• Taught the dignity of manual labor
• Advocated self-trust/ confidence
• Valued individuality/non-conformity/free
thought
• Advocated self-reliance/ simplicity
• Material success = source of corruption

8. Famous Transcendentalists
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Emily Dickinson
• Henry David Thoreau
• Walt Whitman

9. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Born in Boston
1803
• Entered Harvard
at age 14
• First book,
Nature,
published 1836
• Great emphasis
on self.

10. Introduction passage:
What criticism is Emerson making here?
Nature passage:
What does it mean to be the “transparent
eyeball?”
Beauty passage:
What phenomenon is Emerson discussing
here? Be specific!
Questions to consider…

11. From Nature (1836)
“In the woods is perpetual youth… In the woods
we return to reason and faith…”
“In the woods is perpetual youth… In the woods
we return to reason and faith…”
“…Standing on the bare
ground… all egotism
vanishes. I become a
transparent eyeball. I am
nothing. I see all.”
“…Standing on the bare
ground… all egotism
vanishes. I become a
transparent eyeball. I am
nothing. I see all.”
“…Let us demand our own works and laws and
worship...”
“…Let us demand our own works and laws and
worship...”

12. How can we relate??
Dead Poets Society
Set in 1950s, in an all-boys boarding school
What was life like in the 50s?
What was regarded as most
important in that time?
How do the ideas/poems in the
film relate to Transcendentalism?
What can we learn from it all
about ourselves?

13. Walt Whitman
(1819—1892)
• “Roughneck genius” inspired by nature
• Grew up a voracious reader; read
Shakespeare, the Bible, Dante and
Homer
• In 1855, self-published 1st
ed. of Leaves
of Grass
– major turning point in American lit.
• Profoundly moved by Civil War and its
effects
– Spent 11 years in D.C. caring for wounded
soldiers (including brother) and living on
little money
• Died at age 73; buried in tomb in NJ

14. “O Captain, My Captain!”
Extended Metaphor: a figure of speech that
compares two people, places or things at
some length and in several ways (without
using the words like or as).
Elegy: a poem of serious reflection, typically a
lament for the dead.

15. 1. What is the “fearful trip”? (Think
specifically about American history)
2. What is the extended metaphor? What
does it stand for?
Themes:
--LOYALTY
-Select words in poem that imply the speaker’s
loyalty to the Captain.
--COMING OF AGE
-The speaker expresses his shock/difficulty
expressing shock in numerous ways.
Particularly:
“But O heart! heart! heart!”
-meaning? reiterating what?
“…fallen cold and dead.”
-why repetition of that phrase?
--DEATH
-What words/phrases imply that the Captain’s
death was unjust?
-What will the speaker do now that his Captain is
dead?

16. METAPHOR MEANING
Captain President Lincoln
Ship
Storm
Arrival of ship at port

17. Robert Herrick
“To the Virgins…” (1648)
Stanza 1
Metaphor: “rosebuds” = ?
Stanza 2
Rising and setting sun reinforces what idea?
Stanza 3
“That age is best when is the first…” meaning?
Stanza 4
Last piece of advice for the young??

19. In what ways did Chris
McCandless emulate the
Transcendentalist ideals??
In what ways did Chris
McCandless emulate the
Transcendentalist ideals??

20. Two years he walks the earth.
No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom.
An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.
Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West
is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final
and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false
being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual
pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and
hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to
be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the
land to become lost in the wild.
— Chris “Alex” McCandless
May 1992

21. From “Self-Reliance” (1841)
“There is a time in every man’s education when
he arrives at the conviction that envy is
ignorance; that imitation in suicide…”
“Trust thyself…”“Trust thyself…”
“What I must do
is
all that
concerns me,
not what
people think…”
“What I must do
is
all that
concerns me,
not what
people think…”
“…to be great is to be
misunderstood”
“…to be great is to be
misunderstood”
“…non but he knows
what that is which he
can do, not does he
know until he has
tried.”
“…non but he knows
what that is which he
can do, not does he
know until he has
tried.”

22. Essential Questions…
How would you summarize the central tenants
of Emerson’s work?
Why do you think it’s considered one of the
founding texts of the Transcendentalist ideal?
What Transcendentalist traits does it have?

24. Into the Wild: Henry David Thoreau
• Thoreau began “essential” living
• Built a cabin on land owned to Emerson in
Concord, Mass. near Walden Pond
• Lived alone there
for two years studying
nature and seeking
truth within himself

29. “I went into the woods because I
wished to live deliberately, to
front only the essential facts of
life and see if I could not learn
what it has to teach, and not,
when I came to die, discover that
I had not lived.”

30. “I wanted to live
deep and suck out all
the marrow of life.”

33. “Nature” Task III
Question 1: Controlling Idea
The entity of nature forces people to stop, in the midst of a busy
world, and appreciate the small wonders of the outdoors. In
Emerson’s poem “The River,” a man is reflecting on his journey
through life. He refers to his time in the material world as “long
months of weary wandering.” As nature revealed his upcoming
demise, the man is forced to reflect on his life, bringing him back
to his childhood memories by the river. Once simple and
innocent features now appear to him in all their complexities
and he “understand[s] their faery syllables, and all their sad
significance.” He knows now that nature influence his character,
something he could only see near death.

34. Question 1 continued…
In another poem by Emerson entitled “The Snow-Storm,” nature
conjures up a storm that sweeps through the fields of a farm.
The copious snow forces “the sled and traveler [to] stop, the
courier’s feet [to] delay” and all members in the farmhouse to
stay in and keep friends out. It is because of their trapped
disposition that they “see the north wind’s masonry” in the
snow. Personified as an architect, the snow leaves behind
“astonished Art” that the busy farmer would not have seen if it
hadn’t been for the storm. Nature has a powerful way of forcing
people to see its beauty despite the material world’s blind eye.

35. Question 2: Literary Element
In “The River,” Ralph Waldo Emerson uses symbolism to
represent a person’s growth and perspective. Emerson
describes an “infant eye” recalling a memory of the river. The
word choice of “infant” can be used to symbolize
inexperience and the abstruse thoughts of people in life.
Later, however, Emerson describes a “blooming hunter” to
represent the growth in knowledge and change in one’s
perspective. To bloom, like a flower, is to be at a stage of
maturity and development. Therefore, the speaker’s
development throughout the piece can allow for a change in
perspective. The use of symbolism allows for the creation of
an image of growth in the reader’s mind.

36. Socratic Seminars
• Socrates believed that enabling students to
think for themselves was more important than
filling their heads with “right answers.”

37. • Participants seek deeper understanding of
complex ideas through dialogue, rather than
by memorizing bits of information.

38. Seminar Reflection
Answer the following questions in complete sentences
1. One new idea I hadn’t thought of before/I
liked a lot was…
2. One question I still have is…
3. How well do you think the class as a whole
participated? Why?
4. How well do you think you participated?
Why?