Literature in the American Renaissance The Flowering of New England 1840-1860

1. Literature in the American RenaissanceThe Flowering of New England1840-1860 Transcendentalists Anti-transcendentalists Brahmins Fireside Poets

2. Characteristics of Period • Rush of optimism characterized American expansion, reform, and literature • Technological increases + increase in reading audience = increased opportunities for writers • American literature achieved a “universal voice”

3. Emerson (Concord) Thoreau (Concord) Hawthorne (Salem) Melville (Pittsfield) Longfellow (Cambridge) Whittier (Haverhill and Amesbury) Holmes (Cambridge) Lowell (Cambridge) Dickenson (Amherst) Massachusetts home of 8 of these writers Boston touched most of their lives, but names are often associated with smaller towns Major writers of the time

4. Transcendentalism • Roots in Boston and Cambridge in 1830s • Western branch in STL in 1840s • Parted from philosophies of John Locke who asserted that knowledge comes from the outside, through our senses (tabula rasa)

5. During 18th century (1700s), Locke’s idea that knowledge must derive from 5 senses dominated • 1800s transcendentalism asserts that knowledge comes from beyond our senses • Humanism + Naturalism + Soul

6. Transcendentalism • Neither a religion nor a philosophy nor a literary theory (elements of all 3) • Knowledge comes from inside (intuition) and not from our senses • The “God in us” • All humanity knows how to behave if we trust our inner light • Don’t look to the past, but rather within • Literature has no fixed idea, genre, or structure

7. Transcendentalism • Because knowledge is within the self, one does not need the past, the family, or the society as guides to behavior • Radical Individualism • Self transcends and when left to human nature, goodness will prevail

8. Insisted one should follow one’s instinct wherever it leads, irrespective of convention Do whatever one wants deeply to do Great American literature would arise not by following the forms and language of other cultures, but by writing about American things in and American landscape Nation, like the individual, must realize itself Emerson and Thoreau

9. Emerson • “[Intuition] never reasons, never proves, it simply perceives” • “highest power is the soul” • Similar to Puritan views of experiencing God; but, very different in the sense Emerson believed ALL could experience God firsthand (not reserved for “elect” few) • Over-soul---drives everything in nature to realize its inner potential

10. Thoreau • Took transcendentalist ideas and his naturalist talents to create Walden • Weaves together natural, human, and spiritual meanings • Nature is the means to self-knowledge

12. Anti-transcendentalists • Attacked transcendentalists for ignoring 2 powerful realities: reality of evil and reality of human love • Argue transcendentalism rests on humanity’s goodness---but when left to its own devices, why would humanity behave well?

13. Anti-transcendentalists • Wondered if a self freed from society might be freed only to release violence and chaos • Humans can’t escape conscience, institutions, or the past since they arose from deep emotional needs • Unbridgeable gap between human desires • Mixture of good and evil in all human motives

14. Hawthorne and Melville • Not all humanity is good • Think about Hawthorne’s commentary on society in The Scarlet Letter • People are seekers of truth, not finders of it • Humanity, while it might be good, is restricted by dark forces that it cannot control

15. Hawthorne and Melville • People can be not only reasonable but also unpredictable, unreasonable, & filled with self-conceit • Over-emphasis on the individual will lead to destruction • The self we display to the world is no different than the inner self • Harsh industrial conditions, slavery, and the Civil War seem to invalidate transcendentalism

16. Fireside Poets • Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell • Shared common themes and techniques • Poetry deals mainly with nature, family, and mythical material • Relatively easy to read for the “literate family circle” of the time as well as scholars

17. Brahmins • “brahmin” is reference to highest caste in Hindu society • Lowell, Longfellow, and Holmes were considered high caste New Englanders • Represented good taste and distinguished achievements • Unaffected by transcendentalist movement

18. Emily Dickinson • Also a poet during this time period • Works were largely unpublished during this time though

19. “American Actuality” • Anti-transcendentalists’ assertion of uneven balance within humans as opposed to the transcendentalist optimism • The times reflect the truth of Hawthorne and Melville, not Emerson and Thoreau • Both optimism in human possibilities and appraisal of human limits were needed for American literature to fully mature.