Transcendentalism: Literary Origins in America and Influence - Essay Example

Transcendentalism: Literary Origins in America and Influence Thoreau as the True Father Breaks from the past, even deviations from conventional wisdom and dogma, are often characteristic of literature later deemed to be seminal or profound. Although there are transcendental philosophies which can be traced to Immanuel Kant’s German Idealism and the English Romanticism of writers such as Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this essay is concerned more particularly with American Transcendentalism. In an American context, this literary movement, symbolized by the work of authors like Emerson and Thoreau, represented a break from rigid Puritan ideals to a gentler and more humanistic view of Americans as individuals vested with spiritual variety and intellectual competence. In many ways, this type of philosophy encouraged individuals to feel as well as to think for themselves, to determine on their own what felt good and just, and to reject external impositions of fatalism and dogma (Meese, 1985). More specifically, transcendentalist literature espoused a higher spiritual reality, a reality which could be used to live our lives in this young experimental country called America differently and more vibrantly. One of the most articulate and creative Transcendentalist writers, inspired by Emerson, was Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau is notable because he was a contributor to transcendentalist literature and a living experiment alike (Hoopes, 1979). In Walden, for instance, he took to the woods to live a Transcendentalist-type existence for two years and recorded his thoughts and his experiences in detail. In other works, such as the A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and The Maine Woods, he further inserted himself into environments conducive to truly a Transcendentalist lifestyle. If Emerson is referred to as the great inspiration and articulator of American Transcendentalism, then this essay argues that Thoreau was at least as important in establishing Transcendentalist philosophies as important influences in American society; this is because Thoreau lived the Transcendentalist lifestyle more completely and expressed his experiences most comprehensively. In support of this thesis, that Thoreau is the truest and most influential progenitor of American Transcendentalism, this essay will present a brief introduction to Transcendentalism in America, an analysis of Thoreau’s writings and real-life experiences, and how Thoreau’s life and writings have influenced American society. 1.1 Origins of American Transcendentalism In order to understand American Transcendentalism, it is necessary to understand the intellectual tradition which it opposed and broke from; in this, case, therefore, it is necessary to understand Unitarianism and its dominant role in Boston generally and at Harvard University more particularly (Finseth, 1995). The Unitarians represented a softer form of Christianity which emphasized the use of intellectual reason to lead an ethical life. Divine wisdom, in their view, flowed not from a Calvinistic obedience to rigid and dogmatic rules, but to the human mind’s capacity to use reason to determine consequences. Significantly, the Unitarian philosophy became dominant at Harvard College in the early 1900s. This is significant because it was at Harvard that the early American Transcendentalists congregated and studied. From a philosophical point of view, in a country still so young, it must have been a confusing time. The dominant view had been based on a rigid Calvinism, Unitarianism was on the rise, and into this confusion stepped the students and the writers who would found and articulate American Transcendentalism. One of these young writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, was disappointed by what he viewed as a cold and sterile sort of intellectual rationalism; for him, there was much more to life and human existence than a calm and emotionless reasoning paradigm. Indeed, in an early criticism, he complained about the rationalism of the "corpse-cold Unitarianism of Brattle Street and Harvard College" (Finseth, 1995: np). Emerson would help to set the stage for American Transcendentalist literature and for Henry David Thoreau. In response to these cold corpses, along with fellow writers George Putnam and Frederick Henry Hedge, Emerson founded The Transcendental Club on September 8, 1836. They published a journal dedicated to their Transcendentalist ideals, named it the Dial, and began to articulate their philosophies more clearly. To be sure, members of the Transcendentalists disagreed at times; however, certain guiding principles emerged and became well-established. Emerson is particularly instructive in the case of Thoreau because Emerson viewed this new movement as emanating from and residing within the individual. He rejected the calls for social utopias espoused by other writers. In one of his clearest statements regarding the scope and the applicability of Transcendentalist philosophy, and one which influenced Thoreau profoundly, he wrote that You will see by this sketch that there is no such thing as a Transcendental party; that there is no pure Transcendentalist; that we know of no one but prophets and heralds of such a philosophy; that all who by strong bias of nature have leaned to the spiritual side in doctrine, have stopped short of their goal. We have had many harbingers and forerunners; but of a purely spiritual life, history has afforded no example. I mean, we have yet no man who has leaned entirely on his character, and eaten angels' food; who, trusting to his sentiments, found life made of miracles; who, working for universal aims, found himself fed, he knew not how; clothed, sheltered, and weaponed, he knew not how, and yet it was done by his own hands. ... Shall we say, then, that Transcendentalism is the Saturnalia or excess of Faith; the presentiment of a faith proper to man in his integrity, excessive only when his imperfect obedience hinders the satisfaction of his wish (Albanese, 1975: 332). The question was thus how an individual might experience and benefit from a Transcendentalist lifestyle. This was Emerson’s query, to which he posed many possible solutions, and one which Thoreau would later take to heart and write about in so much detail. The emphasis was placed on satisfying certain fundamental needs such as hunger and warmth. There was a spiritual harmony which prevailed, the Transcendentalists argued, when individuals focused on these essential necessities rather than on non-essential or sensual desires. Rationalism alone was deceptive, they argued, and the inner spirit needed to nourished and stimulated. It was into this historical context that Henry David Thoreau entered. 1.2 Thoreau: Literary Contributions and Real-Life Experiences In Walden, Thoreau begins his writing by informing the reader that “When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I have lived here two years and two months” (Thoreau: Collected Works, 1985: 325). As a preliminary matter, it is important to note that Thoreau was concerned with the individual’s interaction with nature. Nature and man were compatible; indeed, everything that he constructed or consumed was derived from his natural surroundings. He was in this way preaching harmony. He wrote about the trees, the rocks, the pond, the insects, and the animals. He wrote about the temperatures, the frost, and how all of these natural objects and conditions affected him personally. In Thoreau’s view, therefore, it is important to note that harmony existed between man and nature. Nature wasn’t to be abused or to be consumed extravagantly; quite the contrary, nature was to be used to satisfy basic necessities. Thoreau’s spiritual health demanded no more, and nature obliged his minor intrusions. In addition to the interaction between nature and man, Thoreau also established an additional principle: we often seek more than what we truly need. This confusion, between base necessities and perceived necessities, led him to observe in Walden that “the mass of men lead quite lives of desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation…but it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things” (Thoreau: Collected Works, 1985: 329). This textual observation brings us back to American Transcendentalism generally and to Emerson more specifically; here, Thoreau is again touching on the conflict between divine wisdom and folly. Whereas the Calvinists might view hard and rigorous work as scriptural mandate, and whereas the more liberal leaning Unitarians might have considered employing wage-earning contractors, Thoreau satisfies all of his tasks at his leisure. He pays no wages and is therefore not indebted. He keeps no schedule and is therefore not enslaved by time. Most importantly, he harbors no false notions of divine wisdom and is therefore both physically and spiritually satisfied. Unlike the others to whom he refers in the aforementioned quote, Thoreau is not desperate. He may very well be resigned, but this resignation is a happy one knowing that his life is his own. How Thoreau chooses to use his free time is also instructive of his Transcendentalist orientation, and his writings remain influential in this respect to this day. He chooses to use his mind, to exercise it frequently, and to clear his mind of false notions and misleading values and social tendencies. Thought, for him, is as natural and as nourishing as drinking fresh water in the morning; in reality, thought is an integral aspect of the harmony between man and nature. To deny ourselves these exercises in thought, or to obey others rather than to think for oneself, would be to deny our essential nature. More, thinking is more than mere reasoning; it is more than identifying procedures and steps. For Thoreau, this thinking is about a spiritual cleansing, it is about deciding what makes us feel happy and satisfied. In Walden, he describes this linkage he feels between nature and human thought In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavat Geeta since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed, and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions. I lay down the book and go to my well for water, and lo! there I meet the servant of the Brahmin, priest of Brahma, and Vishnu and Indra, who still sits in his temple on the Ganges reading the Vedas, or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water-jug. I meet his servant come to draw water for his master, and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges (Walden: Collected Works, 1985: 411). In the final analysis, Thoreau lived the life which Emerson and others discussed. He put to the test the basic tenets of American Transcendentalism and fared just fine; indeed, as the previous excerpt indicates, he seemed spiritually happy as well as physically happy and secure. That Thoreau wrote about these experiences first-hand makes him a more credible commentator than even Emerson. It might be better, though a bit inaccurate historically, to name Henry David Thoreau the Father of American Transcendentalism. 1.3 Influences on American Society and Conclusions To understand the influence of American Transcendentalism and of a writer such as Henry David Thoreau, it is necessary to understand America. This is a country which prides itself on individualism, which prides itself on preserving religious diversity despite the more formal separations of church and state, and which prides itself on self-determination of the individual. All of these are themes which can, to certain degrees, be traced to Thoreau’s writings and to his lifestyle. As with Emerson, Thoreau viewed divine wisdom as residing fundamentally in the individual. He did not propose social utopias; to be sure, communes later founded on Transcendentalist principles misread Thoreau and Emerson. Second, although he rejected both Calvinism and Unitarianism, Thoreau did not reject the search for divine wisdom; instead, he offered a different path to divine wisdom. Finally, he demonstrated through his literature how man could exist harmoniously with nature, how man could satisfy his own needs easily, and how desperate people often created their own desperation by pursuing things and goals peripheral to a happy and meaningful existence. In conclusion, Thoreau succeeded alone. He did this by accommodating himself to nature and by respecting himself as a unique living thing. Works Cited Albanese, C. “The Kinetic Revolution: Transformation in the Language of Transcendentalists,” The New England Quarterly, XLVIII, No. 3 (September, 1975), 319-340. Finseth, I. F. “American Transcendentalism”, excerpted from "Liquid Fire Within Me":  Language, Self and Society in Transcendentalism and Early Evangelicalism, 1820-1860, - M.A. Thesis, 1995. EThoreau Internet Page, Available: http://thoreau.eserver.org/amertran.html Hoopes, J. “Modernist Criticism and Transcendental Literature,” The New England Quarterly, LII, No. 4 (December 1979), 451-466. Meese, E. A. “Transcendentalism: The Metaphysics of the Time” in The American Classics Revisited: Recent Studies of American Literature. American Studies Research Center: Hyderabad (1985). Thoreau: Collected Works. The Library of America: Literary Classics of the United States: New York (1985), Read More