American Transcendentalism and the Dark Romanticism - Essay Example

American Transcendentalism and the Dark Romanticism In the 19th century, Transcendentalism, a philosophical movement began in America with its emergence corresponding to the Renaissance period. In many years, it evolved into a form of literary expression and adherents insisted knowledge acquisition was dependent on sense experience and intuition of the inner spirit. Transcendentalists denounced the religion of that time and adopted skepticism where they argued divinity resided in the individual. During the Renaissance period, this movement provided new insights of comprehending knowledge and understanding the truth. Origins of transcendentalism are traced in Germany in early writings of Emanuel Kant. Just like renowned adherent in America like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller, Kant focused on the abstractions of human existence. Humans had power to reason about events in the world. This was not achievable through sense experience only, but needed reasoning to decipher the perfect representations of reality. However, Dark Romanticism is a philosophical movement that originated from transcendentalism and became widespread in America during the 1840s, but seldom adopted all the ideas of their predecessor. This movement was less enthusiastic about nature, humankind, and divinity. Consequently, the movement believed humankind was not perfect, but susceptible to self-destruction and sin. Humanity never possessed the divinity and wisdom needed to realize perfection. Moreover, Dark Romanticism considered religion a sinister doctrine intending to bring light to humankind. According to them, the natural and realistic world was stark darkness, mysterious, and decaying. Therefore, the revelations of the dark world were hellish and evil because it seldom revealed truth to humankind leading to sin and self-destruction. Finally, its pessimistic view of the world implies the natural world strives to ensure individuals fail in their attempts to bring better changes in their lives. Humankind lacks direction, thus his endeavors consist of predispositions about the real world that lead to sin and self-destruction Similarities Transcendentalism was a spiritual, philosophical, and literary thought that began, as a protest within a church. The Unitarians dominated humankind through religious doctrines, but many adherents of this movement intensified their protests between 1836 and 1860. Even though, Romanticism originated earlier than Transcendentalism, it is apparent Dark Romanticism corresponds to Transcendentalism because it began around late 19th century, only to criticize its predecessor. The relationship between Dark Romanticism and Transcendentalism lies in the need for a movement in the 1800s. Both movements were reactions to stringent laws, traditions, and religious rules characterizing this century. As a result, both movements denounced Calvinism. This strong opposition occurred when Calvinists insisted that the outcomes of human action were predetermined. However, this was only benefiting the church at the expense of the individual, and both movements put emphasis on the influence of nature and the individual. Similar to Romanticism, a movement that Dark Romanticism bases its doctrines, Transcendentalism refuted objective reasoning supported by realism. As a result, Dark Romanticism shared a notion with Transcendentalism insisting an individual needed to discover and unearth their own truth and succumb to it rather than abiding by religious constructions of the time. Differences The major difference between Dark Romanticism and Transcendentalism concerned ideas about God and Religion in the world. The former was an idealistic spiritual and religious movement. Therefore, the followers had a strong point-of-view about God necessary for understanding this philosophy. The transcendentalists believed every aspect of life was a representation of God, and intuition was the primary means of attaining this aspect of life. In every individual was an aspect of life that made it possible to connect with God. When an individual identified and pursued this aspect of life, it was possible to transcend the real life experiences and understand the spiritual world symbolic of God. Therefore, an individual saw beyond reality and appreciated the provisions in nature that the physical mind seldom understood. In supporting the Transcendentalist movement in literary work, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance and Spiritual Laws together with Henry David Thoreau’s, Resistance to Civil Government provided lasting insight about spirituality and nature respectively. On Civil Disobedience, Thoreau begins by denouncing the government that leads the individuals and advocates for a government that seldom intrudes in the life of an individual (Thoreau 1). According to him, the government exists because people chose it to carry out their will; otherwise, it remains a means to justify an end. However, the government is notorious for hindering the realization of the duties leading to its creation, and Thoreau advocates for a civil government (Thoreau 2). In a civil government, the rule is not based on justice and rights, but a majority rule where individual conscience leads decision-making process (Thoreau 8). In this sense, Waldo supported Transcendentalists who favor intuition and sense experience in deciphering the truth instead of instituted laws and regulations that misguide individual conscience and awareness. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance and Spiritual Laws support his sentiments. Waldo insists in Self Reliance that the ultimate source of truth in the world is within individuals (Emerson 8). Individuals only recognize truth external to them, but this is not sufficient because humankind is seldom in touch or has a trust for recognizing truth (Emerson 19). Therefore, it is important for an individual to remain self-reliant and seek the ultimate truth through intuition, and not other truths like books. However, in Spiritual Laws, Waldo insists seeking the truth should not be self-centered because individual truth lying within is universal (Emerson 109). Thus, it is recognized and shared by all individuals and originates from God. In achieving self-reliance, an individual should seek unity with their sense experience and intuition combined because this is the only way to achieve spirituality (Emerson 112). However, Dark Romanticists approach religion with disturbing thoughts and believe the world is dark and dangerous for humankind. Moreover, religious laws and practices confined humanity’s ability to seek creative ways of overcoming challenges presented in the world. Even though Dark Romanticists agree humankind strives to make changes for the better, religion created in the world constantly leads an individual to destruction and sin. Until humanity breaks away from the religious yoke, the world remains dark and unnecessary religious and institutional practices remain to complicate humanity experience in the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a prominent Dark Romanticist whose major publication The House of the Seven Gables illustrates his many elements concerning this movement. A noticeable element in his literary works is nature. In this literary text, Hawthorne’s focus on nature is noticeable when he extensively describes the natural surroundings of the house in the story (Hawthorne 13). This was typical of Romanticist writers, but he limits himself to Dark Romanticist ideas when his description portrays the house, as decaying and withering. Moreover, his degrading description of Maule’s well implies his lack of reverence for nature, and the worn out nature of both objects is an indication the natural world is destructive and weird (Hawthorne 68). Moreover, Allan Poe is another outstanding Dark Romanticists who alongside Hawthorne reinforced their movements through literary works, and discussed numerous details about the weird natural world. This is evident in his poem, The Raven that portrays the influence of the supernatural and its ghostly element (Poe 28). According to Poe, an antagonistic conscience characterized humankind because of unexplainable events in the natural world. Even though, he concurs with many Romanticists on the existence of the unknown, Poe reaffirms this existence by insisting its evil and destructive side (Poe 33). In his story, The Tell Tale Heart, he gives a vivid description of the conscience where he evaluates numerous thought and mind processes (Poe 117). Revealing the protagonist conscience, he argues that human conscience can only understand things from the heart, and fail to understand events in the natural world, for instance, the heartbeat of a dead man (Poe 119). In conclusion, it is apparent Dark Romanticism and Transcendentalism are literary, spiritual, and philosophical movements emerged in the 19th century. However, the interplay between both theories exposes similarities and differences between them, which were supported by literary texts, advanced by artists from both sides of the divide. Both theories continue influencing modern thought and elicit new insights of approaching life in a world characterized by globalization and advances in technology, transport, and communication. To say the least, it is apparent Romanticism continues to dominate the fundamental theories proposed by Dark Romanticists and Transcendentalists. Works Cited Emerson, Ralph W. Self-reliance, the Over-Soul and Other Essays. Claremont, Calif: Coyote Canyon Press, 2010. Poe, Edgar A. The collected tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Hertfordshire, Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 2004. Top of Form Poe, Edgar A. The Raven and Other Favorite Poems. 1991. Thoreau, Henry D. Civil Disobedience, and Other Essays. New York: Dover Publications, 1993. Bottom of Form Read More