Transcendentalism Poetry Reflections

List of Poems:

A Child's Evening Prayer By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Eros By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Give It All To Love By Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Man May Make a Remark By Emily Dickenson
Desire By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Painting and Sculpture By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hope is a Thing with Feathers By Emily Dickenson
The Concord Hymn By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Goodby By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Transcendentalism poetry has a common theme of identity and personal development while dealing with nature and how nature affects a human's wills and desires. When dealing with Ralph Waldo Emerson, most of his poetry deals with nature and the world as a whole. While doing this he mentions God in the majority of his works. Ironically, the name of one of the poems that was analyzed from Emerson was "Eros". "Eros" was the Greek god of sexual love and beauty. This is different however from the religious aspects that are included in his poetry because Greek mythology deals mainly with spiritual beliefs. "Eros" talks about how there is a sense in the world but it is short and most men and gods have not discovered it yet. However while this is true when they eventually find it, it is too late to change or improve anything. This message is important to transcendentalism because "Eros" deals with finding identity through nature and the surrounding world.

Other works from Emerson such as "Give All to Love" have different techniques in their construction. In the first stanza, there is a list of things that Emerson thinks a human should not deny love too. As in "Eros", this poem mentions God when it says "But it is a god, knows it's own path and the outlets of the sky." Although God is being spoken of, it is used to compare love by saying that love "is a god". Rhyming is also used in the poem in order to keep the words flowing and have there be a particular meter. The stanzas are longer and there are more of them than in some of his other works, but the way that they are constructed make the poem easier to read and more enjoyable. "Painting and Sculpture" is a shorter poem but is extremely interesting. The diction used in the poem is intriguing because of the way he spells things. In the second line Emerson uses "drest" instead of dressed but the way it is spelled adds another dimension to the poem's meaning. It brings more attention to the words and so the audience reads more closely. Also the contrast between the "sinful painter" and the "godlike sculptor" grab the reader’s attention to see that the painter needs to have the woman with no clothes on to create art but the sculptor can see the beauty regardless of what she is or is not wearing. Another poem by Emerson, "the Concord Hymn" talks about war and hard times. Random capitalization is used when "Time" or "Nature" are mentioned throughout the poem. This is used to make it clear that these two things are the most important elements and should be paid specific attention too. Both time and nature are essential when talking about transcendentalism poetry because they drive home the point of "spiritual and mental essence" (Wikipedia). War and power struggles deal closely with inner growth and spirit, both important topics for this time period. The last poem that was analyzed was "Good-By" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This poem dealt the most closely with personal reflection. From a literary standpoint, there was a lot of repetition used. "Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home," was repeated in most stanzas at least once which made the point much clearer. It seemed that "proud world" was used a bit sarcastically because throughout the poem he made it very clear that he did not really like or appreciate the world in which he lived in.

In contrast to some of Emerson's works, "A Child's Evening Prayer" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge dealt very closely with religion. Even in the title religion is mentioned and this continues throughout the entire poem where "O God" is mentioned frequently. The syntax of the poem makes it clear that this poem is also a prayer that Coleridge has written. By having there be short sentences sometimes starting off with "God", "O God", or "and may" it becomes clear to the reader that a child would say this prayer before bed in order to ask God to make sure that their parents have "hope and joy" and other such requests. "Desire" another work by Coleridge is very opposite to "A Child's Evening Prayer". This poem does not have any religious mention and strictly sticks to talking about nature. It is a more traditionally transcendentalist type poem. Even though this poem is only four lines, it is very powerful, talking about how desire is "love's purest flame" "but it translates the meaning of the heart". The message that it sends shows that nature and love are the purest forms of human longing and that with these things you will be able to express desire.

Emily Dickenson takes another approach towards transcendentalism thinking. In her works she mostly focuses on nature and how it affects human thinking. "A Man May Make a Remark" deals with how people can say something which in itself is not a big deal but that statement "may furnish the fuse unto a spark" which means that it will start out as a small thing but then become a much bigger deal. Human intuition is a big part of this poem because some people know and will listen more closely to people which in the long run is a good trait to possess. Emily Dickenson was saying that if you pay attention to the little things you can often stop them from becoming a bigger deal than they should be. In "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" Dickenson is comparing hope to a bird. By looking at the imagery that is used this can be concluded. There are many descriptive adjectives and figurative language that are used in this poem in order to make the image vivid and real. It fits the transcendentalism way of thinking because it strongly deals with the way that nature is always there and is sweet and caring but it never asks for anything in return. Nature is something that will always surround people and be there when they need it but it takes a certain person to be able to appreciate it for what it is.