Sample Student Research Project 2016: Essay
LITR
4328 American Renaissance / Model Assignments
Sample Student Research Project 2016:
Essay
Grant
Law
November 17, 2016
Emerson and Thoreau: The Pioneering Forces of Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism was influential in the American Renaissance as it
commented on the natural world as well as the sublime. The themes and topic
explored through the Transcendentalist movement have had a lasting impression on
literature today and influenced the Romantic and Gothic movement. The father and
former Unitarian of the Transcendental movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Enigmatic and filled with a fiery passion for his beliefs, Emerson started a
movement that would pioneer ideas such as individualism, self-reliance, and
spiritual unification through nature. Henry David Thoreau, the most prominent
student of Emerson’s Transcendental school, was the other key figure in the
movement who had contributed to the literary world just as much as Emerson, if
not more. While the two shared many similar beliefs, they varied in some ideas.
Whereas Emerson heralded nature and man as the apotheosis of the self, Thoreau
had focused on isolation and civil disobedience. Emerson’s
Nature had established the core
tenets of the Transcendental movement, but Thoreau’s contributions such as
Walden and
Civil Disobedience expanded and
caused a slight schism of thought between the two schools. Through exploring the
two most prominent figures in during the Transcendental movement I can establish
the core principles as well any varying thoughts that contradict or even
coincide with each other.
It would be logical to start with the founder of the Transcendental
movement, Emerson, and his views first. Conceptualizing the self was Emerson’s
main concern in Nature, and he found
that one must accept nature as the true sublime and the only passage to
unrestrained spiritual connection with God. Arguing that “in the woods, we
return to reason and faith”, Emerson cements the idea that nature and
spirituality are interconnected (Emerson 12). Through this proclamation Emerson
began to establish the conceptualized self as one that is unified with nature.
Completely torn apart from societal restraints and giving oneself solely to God,
Emerson believed that the only reliable recognition of the self was through
this. The act of becoming one with nature is through self-reliance, and with
this unity man enters a pseudo-deified state of being in which all is taken in
as a an immaculate sphere, or as Emerson states: “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” (Emerson 13).
The unified state man reaches when becoming one with nature permits them
to awaken their spiritual state and recognize their conceptualized self.
Without acknowledging the necessity for man and nature to be unified, “man is a
god in ruins” rendered incapable of passing through to the immortal. Johannes
Voelz states in his article “Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Dual Economy of
Recognition,” “Identity, for Emerson, is just this: the sameness in quality
despite all difference in quantity. The term 'recognition' is closely related to
this Transindividual field of identity” (Voelz 556). Voelz’s comments on
Emerson’s recognition of the “Transindividual” self as the sameness of man and
nature. Despite the quantity, as long as the quality of the connection is
ironclad the recognition of man as an individual and particle of god is
complete. Through Voelz’s statement on the sameness in quality, a conclusion is
drawn in Nature as “all organizations
are radically alike” (17). This correspondence highlights the unity between man
and nature and the ascending momentum in the Transcendental movement. Ralph
Waldo Emerson paved the way for Transcendentalism, giving a new voice in both
the literary and spiritual scene of his time.
Nature became a huge influence in the
literary world as well as the environmental one, Emerson had single-handedly
started a movement that would dilate into something greater than he had
imagined. The constant pulse of the Transcendental movement maintained rhythm
with the help of students of Emerson’s school of Transcendental philosophy.
Thanks to Emerson’s influence, Henry David Thoreau, the successor and the rebel,
became the second demanding figure in the Transcendental movement.
Henry David Thoreau is often seen as the successor of the Transcendental
movement, but his contributions were focused on the individual and political
self. Emerson had already perfected the spiritualistic manifesto for the
movement, so Thoreau decided to focus his study and writing elsewhere: on the
autonomy of self. Influenced by the romantic rebellion of Percy Shelley as seen
in his political poem “The Masque of Anarchy,” Thoreau wrote what would later
become one of the most influential pieces of political literature known as
Resistance to Civil Government. While
in Walden, Thoreau had commented on
the natural relationship between the wilderness and man, he still focused on
political aspects of his works, avoiding taxes which caused him to come up with
civil disobedience. Involving politics in Transcendentalism might seem strange,
but when Thoreau regards the self as a sovereign nation unto itself that should
govern their own body according to their will, the Transcendental school of
thought remains relevant. Furthermore, in
Resistance Thoreau poses the question of the governing body: “Can there not
be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong,
but conscience?” (Thoreau 5). Transcendental meditation relies on the focus of
the self and the conscience, regarding the conscience as a governing viability
Thoreau is asserting that the self has sovereign autonomy over the government.
When
regarding Walden, Thoreau becomes one
of the first environmentalist writers of his time. In this text Thoreau takes
most influence from Emerson as it regards the natural world and its relationship
to man. However, it still holds relevant to Thoreau’s political
Transcendentalism as it holds correspondence with his self-reliance and civil
disobedient writings. Whereas, Emerson used the terms widening, or the dilation
of a sphere, Thoreau had focused on the ascension of self. Andrew J. Corsa
Correspondence in thought is readily apparent between Emerson and Thoreau. They
both revere nature above all and hold the mind as the pinnacle of supremacy.
However, while these two Transcendentalist share many common beliefs, there is a
divergence in thought in their core philosophies. Additionally, the way that
Emerson approaches nature in his writing compared to Thoreau’s is drastically
different. Emerson heralds nature as divinity and his writing in his essay
Nature delves into the metaphysical,
what cannot be seen: “When I behold a rich landscape, it is less to my purpose
to recite correctly the order and superposition of the strata, than to know why
all thought of multitude is lost in a tranquil sense of unity” (Emerson 20).
For Emerson, it is not about what is seen but what cannot be seen, Transcendence
is through the approach of experiencing the “tranquil sense of unity.” Thoreau’s
relationship with nature is the opposite, it is about the seen and what can be
experienced through the vision of nature. In
Walden through his documentation of
his surroundings, Thoreau establishes his views of nature as personal
relationship which is built upon the sight. Thoreau refrains from metaphysical
aspects in his writings because that would denigrate his experience: “I wanted
to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and
Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and
shave close, to drive life into a corner.” (69). For Thoreau there is no
reward in mere adulation without the visceral intercourse between man and
nature. While influenced by the Emersonian thought of nature’s Transcendental
properties, Thoreau believes that the true ascension can only be through the
seen. This is the most drastic difference in their thoughts on nature, the
approach on how to witness and experience the Transcendental effects of nature.
Vesselina Runkwitz states in his article “The Metaphysical Correspondence
between Nature and Spirit in the Visions of the American Transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau”:
While
Emerson dwelt somewhere between metaphor and metaphysics, Thoreau had little
taste for metaphysics. Although his initial works in the 1840’s were primarily
marked by the idealistic influence of Emerson, Thoreau’s apprehension of reality
in the early 1850s underwent a radical shift in emphasis. He was increasingly
concerned with affirming the visible… (Runkwitz 32).
With
Runkwitz’s comment it is apparent that Emerson was fixated on the unreal whereas
Thoreau was focused on the reality of matter. It is not a stretch to say that
Emerson’s views are idealistic in nature, and that Thoreau, with a much more
thorough thought, was grounded in material ideology. While both Emerson and
Thoreau are considered the pioneering figures of the Transcendental movement,
their views of Transcendentalism are different in their very nature.
Transcendentalism was deeply influential for the American Renaissance as
it introduced and reinforced the presence of nature in literature. Both Emerson
and Thoreau utilized the sublime image of nature as a force for divinity, a
place to displace oneself from the fleshly realm of humanity. Various movements
during the American Renaissance took inspiration from the Transcendental view of
nature as the sublime such as the Gothic and Romantic movements. These two
focused on the romanticized ideals of the world where the former took it to a
dark extreme and the latter focused on the beauty of humanity. However, both
movements retained the same image of the sublime seen in the Transcendental
movement. Furthermore, Transcendentalism influenced what is called today as
new-age spiritualism and various environmentalist thoughts. The esoteric
idealism of Emerson had inspired many spiritual seekers throughout time and the
environmental documentation of Thoreau’s
Walden brought a humanitarian view when regarding nature and its
preservation. The impact of Transcendentalism is still felt today, and various
writers of today take gentle nods towards Emerson and Thoreau without even
realizing it at times. Transcendentalism had integrated into various forms of
mainstream thought whether it be through religion, politics, or civil rights, as
seen with M. L. K. and Gandhi. Without these two figures many concepts that
effect our world today might not have been applied.
During the American Renaissance literature had undergone a drastic
change. The formalities of the novel began, new uses of metaphorical content
such as nature and the everyday were brought into light, and the Gothic, all of
these contributed to the growth of the literary scene of the time and remains a
lasting influence on literature today. Out of all of the various movements
during the Renaissance, Transcendentalism remains a pivotal component of the
time period as it brought both the romantic use of language and sublime images
into new heights. Ralph Waldo Emerson established a spiritual school of thought
that would become an introspective school of philosophy in the recognition of
the self through the integration of nature and man. Following closely behind,
Henry David Thoreau brought Emerson’s ideals and grounded them into the material
world cementing the role of man and nature as a visceral dialogue that is
contingent upon both parties participating. Transcendentalism is still felt and
talked about till this day and remains one of the most influential movements
during the American Renaissance.
WORKS
CITED
Corsa, Andrew J. "Henry David Thoreau: Greatness Of Soul And Environmental Virtue." Environmental Philosophy 12.2 (2015): 161-184. Environment
Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.
Emerson, Ralph W. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. N.p, n.d. Web. 19 Nov.
2016.
Runkwitz, Vesselina. "The Metaphysical Correspondence between Nature and Spirit
in the Visions of the American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau.", 2011.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and
"Civil Disobedience". New York: Signet Classics,
1980
Voelz, Johannes. “Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Dual Economy of Recognition.” Amerikastudien
/ American Studies, vol. 57, no. 4, 2012, pp. 553–580.
"Great Star" flag of pre-Civil War USA