Course work topic

MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATION

DENOV INSTITUTE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND PEDAGOGY
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatury

“Literatury”

COURSE WORK

TOPIC: " Transcendentalism "

Prepared by: 2nd year student of group "207"
Nasriddinov Murobek
Scientific adviser: S. Oripova

Denov-2022

Mundarija:

INTRODUCTION 3
1 TRANSCENDENTALISM IN LITERATURE. 7
1. MAJOR TENETS OF TRANSCEDENTALISM 12
2. INFLUENCES ON THE TRANSCEDENTALISM 15
3. TRANSCEDENTAL INFLUENCE ON THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 19
4. HENRY DAVID THOREAU 23
5. RALPH WALDO EMERSON 26
CONCLUSION 37
REFERANCES 40

INTRODUCTION

Transcendentalism was an idealistic literary and philosophical movement of the mid-19th century. Beginning in New England in 1836, various visionaries, intellectuals, scholars, and writers would come together regularly to discuss spiritual ideas. The Boston newspapers, which advertised their meetings, called the group the Transcendentalists. In this video, we will explore the main ideas of Transcendentalism, along with some of the key figures of this important American literary movement.Transcendentalists were radical thinkers. At the time of their meetings, New England was still holding on to a remnant of Puritanical values. There was a sense that organized religion had authority over one's personal life and individual choices. For the Transcendentalists, this was a big no-no! They were quite critical of conformity, or forcing one's behavior to match social expectations or standards. They were nonconformists - people who do not conform to a generally accepted pattern of thought or action. They rejected common ideas and practices, particularly organized religion. There wasn't a Transcendentalist church or a holy book of Transcendentalism. Instead, there were regular meetings for lively conversation and a shared hope of cultivating a modern, fluid, and personal sense of spirituality. Transcendentalism, 19th-century movement of writers and philosophers in New England who were loosely bound together by adherence to an idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of humanity, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths. German transcendentalism (especially as it was refracted by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle), Platonism and Neoplatonism, the Indian and Chinese scriptures, and the writings of such mystics as Emanuel Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme were sources to which the New England Transcendentalists turned in their search for a liberating philosophy. Eclectic and cosmopolitan in its sources and part of the Romantic movement, New England Transcendentalism originated in the area around Concord, Massachusetts, and from 1830 to 1855 represented a battle between the younger and older generations and the emergence of a new national culture based on native materials. It attracted such diverse and highly individualistic figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Orestes Brownson, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, and James Freeman Clarke, as well as George Ripley, Bronson Alcott, the younger W.E. Channing, and W.H. Channing. In 1840 Emerson and Margaret Fuller founded The Dial (1840–44), the prototypal “little magazine” wherein some of the best writings by minor Transcendentalists appeared. The writings of the Transcendentalists and those of contemporaries such as Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, for whom they prepared the ground, represent the first flowering of the American artistic genius and introduced the American Renaissance in literature (see also American literature: American Renaissance).
In their religious quest, the Transcendentalists rejected the conventions of 18th-century thought, and what began in a dissatisfaction with Unitarianism developed into a repudiation of the whole established order. They were leaders in experimental schemes for living (Thoreau at Walden Pond, Alcott at Fruitlands, Ripley at Brook Farm); women’s suffrage; better conditions for workers; temperance for all; modifications of dress and diet; the rise of free religion; educational innovation; and other humanitarian causes.
Heavily indebted to the Transcendentalists’ organic philosophy, aesthetics, and democratic aspirations were the pragmatism of William James and John Dewey, the environmental planning of Benton MacKaye and Lewis Mumford, the architecture (and writings) of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, and the American “modernism” in the arts promoted by Alfred Stieglitz.
Abolitionism was the movement, which was directed at the abolishment of slavery at the Southern States of America. From the beginning of the 19th century these Southern States began to play great role in the political life of the USA. The North of America was industrial. The plantation owners wanted to have more and more territories. In the West, there were free lands and the plantation owners claimed their hands to new territories.
There were sharp contradictions between industrial North and slavery South. The progressive elements of bourgeoisie in the North opposed the claims of slave-owners and they started the movement of abolitionism. In the 30-ties, there were a number of Negro uprisings. Most of them were led by a farmer-abolitionist, John Brown. He led an uprising in 1859. It was defeated. And John Brown was hanged but his name is popular even now among the broad masses of people. The contradictions became sharper and sharper and were resulted in Civil War 1861-1865. The immediate cause of this war was the election of Abraham Lincoln to the post of the American President. He was a sworn enemy of slavery. This aroused the dissatisfaction in Southern States. When he was elected there was a revolt in the South. Two Armies were formed, of the Southerners and the Yankee Army. That war lasted during 5 years. It was ended by the victory of the North and the abolition of slavery. Under the banner of abolition all progressive people of America were united and they began to publish an abolitionist paper “The Liberator”. It was started by William Garrison. The paper exposed the slave-owners of the South. Want to introduce your students to one of the most influential philosophical movements in American history? Then consider teaching Transcendentalism: Essential Essays of Emerson and Thoreau. This entry in our Literary Touchstone Classics collection provides readers with a concise primer on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, as well as a broad overview of the transcendentalism movement as a whole.
To ensure that students get the most out of their reading experience, be sure to provide background information and historical context for the passages in this collection. While the Literary Touchstone Classics edition provides helpful introductions and annotations, an open discussion of the themes students will encounter is an important step. Common transcendentalist themes include nature, nonconformity, and spirituality, all rather dense topics. To make these subjects accessible to the class, you may have each student choose a line or group of lines that stood out to him or her and write or speak persuasively about that excerpt.
For even more in-depth discussion, consider carving out time to talk about the impact Emerson's and Thoreau's work had on the course of history. What historical figures seem to have been influenced by their philosophies? Why did Emerson and Thoreau emerge with their ideas at that point in time? Some students might seem disinterested in reading these essays, so talking about the influence it had on the course of philosophy and literature might compel them to read the text more closely.

1 TRANSCENDENTALISM IN LITERATURE.

Transcendentalism: Transforming the Literary Terrain
In the nineteenth century, Transcendentalism transformed the American literary landscape. Authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller embraced the new European philosophy of Transcendentalism and created a literary movement that emphasized the importance and equality of every living entity. Using the philosophical underpinnings of European Transcendentalism, these intellectuals, along with many others, were not only writers but also the visionaries and philosophers of their time. Emerson absorbed the knowledge of the European philosophers, particularly Immanuel Kant, as well as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Johann Goethe (Holman and Harmon 509), realizing the significance in this new form of thinking and introducing it to American readers, writers, and thinkers. Bringing Transcendentalist thought to the United States, Emerson influenced those around his Concord home, particularly Thoreau and Fuller, to embrace his new view of life. Transcendentalism became important to Walt Whitman many years later, showing Emerson’s continual sculpting of America’s literary landscape.
The American transcendentalist movement began in 1836 with the publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature.” As a transcendentalist, Emerson presents the idea that Americans need to stop looking to society for answers to their problems and turn to nature. After reading Emerson’s essay, people wanted to know more about the new philosophy. So, they met at Emerson’s house to discuss new thoughts, and every time they met, the “group seemed in general harmony in their conviction that within the nature of human beings there was something that transcended human experience—an intuitive and personal revelation” (Holman and Harmon 509). In his later essay “The Poet,” Emerson presents the observation that Americans needed to take steps to create a truly American literature because American authors had been following in the footsteps of European writers for far too long. One of the major tenets of Transcendentalism is that individualism and self-reliance are better than following than the thoughts and beliefs of others, and Emerson used this philosophy to transform the literary terrain. He argued that Americans would have to define their own forms of literature and find ways to represent the uniqueness of the American landscape, as well as American individualism.
Transcendentalism is not so much a genre as it is a movement that emphasizes independence and nonconformity. It altered America’s literary landscape by encouraging individual thought and the importance of finding oneself in a unique relation to the universe. Prior to Transcendentalism, American literature had been imitating European models and authors. Margaret Fuller notes this imitation in “American Literature,” declaring, “Longfellow is artificial and imitative. . . . His verse breathes at times much sweetness; and if not allowed to supersede what is better, may promote a taste for good poetry. Though imitative, he is not mechanical” (720). She is trying to convey that he has some talent and potential as a poet, yet he’s using it through a copied style. Fuller is essentially arguing that American poetry is not good because it is fake and that we can’t keep imitating other countries’ cultures until we develop our own. Emerson, along with many other writers and editors at the time, pursued the same goal: to develop a truly American literature via Transcendental ideals.
For the Transcendentalists, Transcendentalism was not just a literary and philosophical movement; it was a way to go about everyday life and to discover God through nature. There are three basic tenets of Transcendentalism: One must have “[a] firm belief that God is present in all aspects of nature, including every human being. That through the use of intuition everyone is capable of learning of God's existence, [and] the belief that all of nature symbolizes the spirit, and the world is good” (Westwood). Transcendentalists believed intuition should have precedence over intellect because intuition comes from the universal soul. They also thought nature was divine and that they would find ultimate beauty and God within nature. Emerson discovered that beauty within nature, as he asserts in his essay on “Nature”: “To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, . . . a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again.” (491-92). He’s correct in many ways. Nature and beauty are related to change. One day we wake up to one of the most beautiful sunrises, then realize we won’t ever see that sunrise again. Emerson needed this change; this was what he was searching for when he travelled to Europe in 1832.
Emerson’s “The Poet,” published in 1844, is his Transcendental philosophy on nature, art, beauty, originality, and, most of all, the progress of the spirit. In this essay, he is calling for an American poet who can do justice to American thought. While Fuller’s essay on “American Literature” in 1846 argues that there isn’t any American Literature, Emerson is hopeful that there could be an American literature. Fuller asserts, “For it does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American Literature” (716), essentially saying that the books written by people who were born in America don’t classify as American Literature because they are still imitating Europe born authors. Along the same lines, Emerson states in “The Poet,” “Art is the path of the creator to his work. The paths, or methods, are ideal and eternal. . . . [T]he poet pours out verses in every solitude. Most of the things he says are conventional, no doubt; but by and by he says something which is original and beautiful” (567).
Emerson wanted Americans to transcend what they were taught to the point where the mind “insures an order of expression which is the order of nature itself” (McQuade, “Ralph,” 480-85). Transcendentalists believed that to be smart one should follow intuition over reason, just like they believed in the individual conscience. They were strong supporters in the power of the individual, mostly having to do with personal freedom. Transcendentalism focused on breaking off from the past, transcending the present, and all the while discovering the intuitive and personal. Stephen Greenblatt asks the question, “[S]hould the term ‘culture’ be useful to students of literature?” (436). He then transforms the question, asking, “[H]ow can we get the concept of culture to do more work for us?” The concept of Transcendentalism is grounded in the theory that culture changes with time. As culture changes, so does literature, and the way people think, act, and talk. There is no denying that everyone from Emerson’s time to today has been affected in some way by Transcendentalism.
Henry David Thoreau read “Nature” when he was a senior at Harvard. It not only inspired him to become a Transcendentalist but also influenced him in his later writings. It would eventually have a major impact on Thoreau’s most famous piece, Walden. Readers at the time didn’t understand Walden; Thoreau’s remarks were taken too literally. He was a free thinker, and he liked to remain in the same place for a long period of time; he “[i]nsisted that the best traveling is done while staying home, exploring the cosmography of the imagination. . . . [H]e was happiest alone” (McQuade, et al., “Henry David Thoreau,” 599). With all the traveling he did, Thoreau certainly had time to write many other essays and poems, twenty-three of which appeared in The Dial, the Transcendentalist magazine that was published periodically from 1840-1844.
Fuller and Emerson’s relationship was quite uneasy. She praised his work ethic, but at the same time believed “[h]e had faith in the Universal, but not in the Individual Man; he met men, not as a brother, but as a critic” (713). Judith Thurman remarks that “Fuller’s intelligence had dazzled Ralph Waldo Emerson, who invited her to join the Transcendental Club and to edit its literary review, The Dial,” which was published quarterly. Fuller edited The Dial from 1840-1842. She resigned as editor in 1842 yet played a key role in helping Emerson edit the magazine until it ceased publication in 1844. Bronson Alcott and Emerson selected a title that suggested a sundial; Emerson wrote the opening words to the first page: “The DIAL, as its title indicates, will endeavor to occupy a station on which light may fall; which is open to the rising sun; and from which it may correctly report the progress of the hour and the day” (qtd. in “The Dial”).