Trancendental Influences in the works of Emerson and Thoreau

A detailed Summary of Trancendental Influences in the works of Emerson and Thoreau

The American Heritage Dictionary defines transcendentalism as "The belief or doctrine that knowledge of reality is derived from intuitive sources rather than objective." A more concise definition of transcendentalism would be a philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual over the material and scientific. Writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both celebrated transcendentalists. Emerson concentrated his theories in his poetry and numerous essays like "Nature" and "Self Reliance", where as Thoreau threw himself into his philosophies as is reflected in Walden. The transcendental influences of Emerson and Thoreau are revealed through their views on nature, government, and individualism.

Through nature, Emerson and Thoreau's transcendental qualities were exposed. Both writers emersed themselves in nature; Emerson through his writing, Thoreau, literally. Emerson came up with and wrote down ideas as to how man should learn from nature. In his view nature was something to be worshipped as a divine entity. Emerson's philosophy focused on "a God who imposed a pattern on event" (Cayton 58) as is shown in the cycles of nature. It was his belief that we should "regard nature as a phenomenon, not a substance;

Thoreau deplored the government and believed that since he did not vote and did not live in a city and receive governmental help that he should not have to pay taxes. He stood by his belief to the point of spending the night in jail. "For most of Thoreau's life he regarded freedom as an absolute state of being, which might be won through rituals of self control and asceticism, after shaking off the torpor of convention. He was contemptuous, as a vulnerable arrangement between government and citizens requiring social constraints" (Howe 34). He claimed not to "hesitate to say to those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government and not wait until they constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right to prevail through them" (Thoreau Civil Disobedience).

to attribute necessary existence to spirit, to esteem nature as an accident and effect" (Emerson). Emerson also viewed nature as a way to learn characteristics about one's own self. In his writing, "Nature is brought within the sphere of the self; man is fully cut adrift from the belief in any reality external to himself" (Wichor 54). This idea was expressed very well when Emerson said that "all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to the influence" (Emerson "Nature").

Thoreau, trying to preserve his independence, moved out of the city to the area referred to as Walden Pond. There he wrote many essays and a book on government and individualism. Thoreau drives to an extreme a version of individualism that in later decades would lend itself to conservative bullying and radical posturing (Howe 35). Thoreau's "writings consistently linked the values of untrammeled individualism and unconstrained nature, and disparaged the conformism and artificiality of settled village life" (McClay 160). He once said

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Approximate Word count = 1283
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English