LITR 5535: American Romanticism

Student Presentation on Reading Selections, fall 2003

Emerson Presentation

When I began to try to decide what to focus on for my presentation, I realized that “transcendentalism” was one of those things that I felt that I knew, but couldn’t really define.  That was further complicated by the fact that when you examine transcendentalism in the same discussion as Romanticism the definitions and relationships get muddled.  Some discussions seem to use them as a synonym for one another.  Others treat them as two independent philosophies or movements that share some characteristics, but follow one another chronologically.  Finally, and most accurately it seems to me, some look at Romanticism as a primarily literary distinction, while transcendentalism is a philosophy which has literary components which are mostly of a Romantic type.  In other words, Romantic literature is not necessarily Transcendental, but most Transcendental literature is Romantic.

I focused my reading on “The Divinity School Address.”  When reading this I became primarily interested in the extreme rebellion that Transcendentalism makes against Christianity.  I hadn’t realized the extent of the dissention between Christianity and Transcendentalism until spending time reading this essay closely.  I think that this ties in with the Romantic idea of rebellion, but Romanticism as a whole did not necessarily take such drastic steps away from Christianity.  Before I could get to the point of examining this I found it helpful to glance at Transcendentalism as a whole.

The entry for “Transcendentalism” is on page 487-488 in Bedford’s Glossary.  I narrowed it down to the following key points:

• Transcendentalism originated in Europe, but flourished in the U.S.
• It began as a religious philosophy.
• American’s began to translate it into literary terms.
• Influences included: Neo-Platonism, German idealism (Kant), mystical philosophy (Swedenborg), Goethe, Coleridge, and Carlyle.
• Transcendentalists were more united by their opposition to Locke’s empiricism and Calvinist doctrine than by common points of agreement.
• However there were common points including: the belief that the human being is innately divine, the existence of transcendental categories of knowledge, and the ability of humans to discover truths intuitively.

Using objective 1b, I decided to identify the ways in which Emerson, as a transcendentalist, exhibits Romantic qualities in his essays.  The four aspects which most closely align with Romanticism are separation of the individual from society, the sublime, idealism, and most importantly rebellion.

• Separation- (pg. 541 (552 my edition)“Self-Reliance”) “Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.
• Sublime- Emerson uses this word several times.  I think that he uses it in the sense that Kant does.  According to Bedford’s, Kant said that the sublime was “simultaneously awe-inspiring, unsettling, and even ethically motivating.” 
• Idealism- According to Perspectives in American Literature, “Transcendentalism, essentially, is a form of idealism.  Emerson wrote in nature “Idealism sees the world in God.”  Notice the change from the Age of Faith and even from many Romantics who would say they see God in the world not vice-versa.
• Rebellion- The entire transcendental movement was a rebellion against current philosophy and religion.  In fact, the transcendental rebellion against Christian beliefs went far enough to exclude it from being a Christian philosophy.  Had transcendentalism become a form of religion, it would be considered a cult by mainstream Christianity much like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are today. The recognition of Transcendentalism & these other churches as non-Christian is based on the fact that they violate the essential doctrines of Christianity.  There are three-four of these doctrines depending on whether you treat the gospel as a separate category or as a subcategory.  Each of these doctrines has Biblical support and can often be broken down into several aspects.  A quick run-down of these doctrines is: 1) The Deity of Christ- Jesus is God in flesh; Jesus is the proper object of faith; The Doctrine of the deity of Christ includes the Trinity and Monotheism; The Hypostatic Union - That Jesus is both God and man 2) Salvation by Grace 3) The Resurrection of Christ 4)   The Gospel as authority and God’s word.

Transcendental thought violates The Deity of Christ (the Hypostatic Union), The Gospel, and salvation by Grace.  Other differences occur as well in Emerson’s writings.  The support for this analysis of Transcendentalism as not merely a rethinking of Christianity, but a rejection of it entirely can be found in Emerson’s writings.  The most rebellious aspects of transcendentalism came from four areas: 1) denial of the deity of Christ as in Jesus=God, not Jesus has the same divine spark that we all have, he’s just really good at using it—READING PG. 530 (541); 2)  denial of the authority of the Bible to guide and instruct believers—READING PG. 536 (547); 3) denial of the sinful nature if man (READING PG. 529 (540); and 4) the denial of the sense of an absolute morality that can be clearly articulated in words—READING PG. 541(552). 

Through the process of gathering my thoughts for this presentation, several questions emerged.  Some directly related to my main point and others more abstract.

1)      Why do philosophical essays/writings sometimes serve to establish their writer as a literary figure and other times as a philosophical figure?  Example-Emerson is entirely concerned with philosophical matters, even in his poetry.  It seems his main purpose is disseminating ideas not producing literature.  Yet, we study him as a literary figure and most people would call him a writer.  In contrast, Ayn Rand is thought of as a philosopher rather than a literary figure even though she produced several major works.

2)      Do you think that Emerson thought of himself as reforming ideas within Christianity or rejecting Christianity altogether?  Or was he rejecting religion as a whole—he sounds almost Marxist calling religious sentiment “the embalmer of the world” (PG. 529 (540))

3)      Modern “cults” such as Mormonism deliberately align themselves with mainstream religions in terminology, etc in order to attract new members.  Do you think that Emerson’s use of Biblical allusions and scripture references (often times changed around and not even credited as such) are a deliberate rhetorical attempt to make his views acceptable to those who view themselves as Christians?   

Discussion:

It would probably be better to discuss Emerson as nature writing and then you avoid be offended.

This work is both fresh and rebellious.

Emerson has picked up a small following among high school students who reject their parents’ Christianity and use Emerson as a tool.

It’s not just rebellion against authority, it’s against all types of authority.

Dickens said that if he had been an American he would have been a Transcendentalist.

That makes sense because Dickens was outside the norm.  His characters rise up from what they aren’t supposed to be and realize life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  As far as Emerson, I’m not offended by it.  My minister had to read it in Divinity School and he thinks it has good points.

Theologians read it because they need to see where everyone is coming from.

But, Transcendentalism is not a religious movement.

Are the Unitarians a Christian religion?

They emphasize unity—not the trinity.  They define themselves more by what they aren’t than by what they are.

Emerson’s writing is rebellious but not dark.

Doubt is a part of religion.

Emerson’s doubt pushed him to produce some wonderful philosophy.

Perhaps it’s a reaction to established religion.

There’s a lot of meditation.  I kept thinking about E. Dickinson going to pray in the back yard under the trellis.

There are several Biblical allusions.  Thinking of them rhetorically makes you see it differently.

He seems to borrow rather freely from previously written material.

It creates a harmony between him and the audience.

Perhaps that is where the offense comes in—paraphrasing God’s word.

Emerson knows his audience.  He’s harder with the Divinity School than he was with in Nature where he is speaking to the general public.

Lincoln does the same thing with his language.  He sounds Biblical.  Pg 757 and 760.

In a Bible soaked population Biblical rhetoric springs up frequently.