It is a philosophical, political, and literary movement whose father is Ralph Waldo Emerson and that proposes that knowledge can be obtained through the senses, intuition, and contemplation. It arose as a reaction to or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality.
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Characteristics of the Transcendentalism Movement
These are the main characteristics of the Transcendental Movement
- The roots of this philosophical movement go back to the theories of Immanuel Kant. and concerned himself with the abstractions of existence – those things which cannot be known for sure.
- Transcendentalists believe that people are at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent.
- Transcendentalists believe that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge.
- Transcendental writers consider that religion and political parties corrupted the purity of the individual.
- A lot of the Transcendentalist writers wrote poetry as well as essays.
- The Transcendentalists believed that folks can understand truth through intuition.
- According to the Transcendentalists, the only way to access that realm of experience and knowledge is to trust in our intuition.
- Transcendentalists professed skepticism of all established religions, believing that Divinity resided in the individual.
- Transcendentalists believed that nature and man are intertwined and designed to fit together like pieces of a larger puzzle and that total consciousness could be achieved through observing nature
- Transcendentalists believe that the universe is within ourselves.
- Trascentalism opposed slavery and gender inequality
Authors and Literary Works
These are main authors of the transcendental movement
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism
- Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay “Civil Disobedience”
- Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), commonly known as Margaret Fuller, was an American journalist, critic, and women’s rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement.
Other Literary Movements and Periods
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