英美文学American literature chapter 2.ppt

*  Transcendentalism  Background the Mexican-American War（1846-1848） the westward expansion In 1836 a book entitled Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America. “The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.” Natures voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism. Transcendentalism is literature, philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to 1860. It orginated among a small group of intellectuals who were reacting agaisnt orthodoxy（正统的） of Calvinism, developing instead their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and natural world. Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts form romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Carlyle, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Its mystical aspects were partly influenced by Indian and Chinese reigious teachings. The major features of Transcendentalism can be summarized as follows: Transcendentalism first, Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul(超灵), as the most important thing in the universe. Secondly, Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. It was the garment of the Oversoul. The beliefs that God is immanent(天生的) in each person and in nature and that individual intuition is the highest source of knowledge led to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance and rejection of traditional authority. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden. It was the product of a combination of foreign influences and the American Puritan tradition. It brings a ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be