Transcendental And Anti Transcendental Movements
Transcendental and Anti-Transcendental Movements
During the New England Renaissance period of 1840-1855, literature underwent two very
distinct movements known as Transcendentalism and Anti-Transcendentalism. Both movements
were very influential and consisted of authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalist)
and Nathaniel Hawthorne (Anti-Transcendentalist). Concentrating their ideas on human nature
and intuition, rather than on logic and reason, both these movements served as a flourishing revolt
against previously accepted ideas.
The Transcendental movement focused its ideas on the essential unity of creation, the pure
goodness of humanity and in individual intuition as the highest source of knowledge, rather than
sensory experience. Optimism dominated people's thoughts and was shown in the ideas of the
Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed deeply in human potential and in the purity of
Nature. Truth, they believed, was also reflected in Nature and how it made you feel, and Nature
was a reflection of the beauty of human nature. They focused on the possibilities of the human
spirit and the capability of it reaching the "Over Soul". The "Over Soul" is the so-called state in
which all beings (Nature, God, and Humanity) are spiritually united. During this movement,
individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority were also highly stressed. A
literary work which reflects the Transcendental ideas is Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance".
Emerson's quotes display the reader a clear image of ideas which...
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