Trancendentalism Research

Transcendentalism was a time in the early to middle 19th century in which ideas in culture, religion, literature and philosophy blossomed. The revolution started as a protest against culture and society in general and in particular, the doctrine of the Unitarian church that was being taught at Harvard Divinity School. The core belief of this time was that there was a central spiritual state that can only be seen through an individual’s intuition rather than through a religion.
Up until Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Nature written in 1836, was published transcendentalism was not recognized as widely as it is today. This essay brought the movement to attention and it became a real cultural movement. It ended with a statement about how people need to have a revelation in their consciousness in order to emerge into a new idealist philosophy. Shortly after this essay was published, the Transcendentalism Club was formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts by Emerson and some of his fellow intellectuals. The group kept a journal called The Dial, and frequently wrote in it.
Most members of the Transcendentalism Club had the same mission, however some veered off the path. Some linked the mission of consciousness with the idea of a utopian society and social interactions. Other explicitly joined the idea with socialism. Overall, the movement was thought to be similar to a Romanticists way of thinking.
When I began to read transcendentalism poetry, I noticed common threads. The clearest trait that they all shared was that they in some way mentioned god or a higher power. Even while they were mentioning this power however, they talked mostly about inner strength and struggles. In some cases, such as Painting and Sculpture by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poems talked about art as a way to portray internal feelings. The content of transcendentalist poems was closely related to the poets’ feelings about religion and human intuition.
I really enjoyed reading transcendentalist poetry. The ideas behind the literature made a lot of sense to me and closely resembled what I personally believe. I think that the way the poets relayed their messages about human spirit not having to only be seen through religion was complete and justified through their work. Their feelings were shown very clearly but not in an overwhelming manner, the way that ideas should be shared in my opinion.
When I started reading poetry by Ralph Waldo Emerson, I was immediately taken in. I enjoyed his relations between human and nature and respected his words very deeply. I think that he can get his point across clearly and concisely without having to say too much about religion. Although religion is mentioned throughout most of his works, it is mostly as a subtopic to his larger though which I considered a very nice detail of his poetry. In terms of what I think literature could do, I believe that transcendentalist poets make valid points in a not overwhelming way so that I could enjoy and above all respect their words.