New England Renaissance

1. New England Renaissance The First Major Literary Period in America

2. New England Renaissance • 1830’s - 1850’s • Called the American Renaissance if including Poe and others • Northeasterners include Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Fireside poets, and Whitman

3. Transcendentalism • A philosophical movement in New England • 1840’s • Philosophy, literature, reform movement

4. Transcendentalist Philosophy They believed a spiritual reality pervaded everything, like “the Force” in Star Wars.

5. Transcendentalism • The Oversoul pervades all of nature • The Oversoul is within every human being, like a spark of divinity • A person can experience oneness with the Oversoul through intuition

6. Transcendentalism • Such an experience is a Transcendental moment • A person alone in nature may experience a Transcendental moment • Note the influence of Hinduism and Platonic idealism

7. Transcendentalism as Literature Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. Emerson and Thoreau • Friends, colleagues, teacher and student • Harvard graduates • Fellow citizens of Concord, Massachusetts • Transcendental Club • Optimistic, individualistic, non-materialistic

9. Emerson and Thoreau • Both were poets, but not good ones • Famous mainly for essays, non-fiction books, and lectures

10. Transcendentalism as literature • The Dial, a magazine that published their essays, poetry, etc.

11. Transcendentalism as Reform Movement • Strongly anti-slavery • Strongly for feminism • Margaret Fuller • Brook Farm, a commune