西北师范大学美国文学通史课件 Chapter 4 Colonial Period.pptVIP

Chapter Four  New England Transcendentalism * Emerson * Thoreau I. New England Transcendentalism (When? Where? Who? What? How?) II. Ralph Waldo Emerson (his major works, his major ideas) III. Henry David Thoreau (his major works, his major ideas) Chapter Four I. New England Transcendentalism (1836-1855) 1. Time: 1836-1855: In 1836, a little book came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual life of America. It was entitled Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The New World was thrilled to hear the new voice it uttered. … A whole new way of thinking began to exert its influence on the consciousness of man. Nature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism. 2. Essence: “Transcendentalism is idealism” in essence. 3. Background: Some New Englanders who were not quite happy about the materialistic-oriented life of their time formed themselves into an informal club, the Transcendentalist club, and met to discuss matters of interest to the life of the nation as a whole. They expressed their views, published their journal, the Dial, and made their voice heard. 1840-1929 I. New England Transcendentalism (1836-1855) 4.Representative figures: some 30 men and a couple of women such as Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and Margaret Fuller, most of them teachers or clergymen, radicals against rigid rationalism of Unitarianism. 5. Major Features: A. Emphasis on spirit, or Oversoul omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent B. the importance of the individual as the most important element of society The regeneration of the society could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, through his self-perfection, self-culture, self-improvement, self-reliance C. Nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God Nature was not purely matter. It was the garment of the Oversoul. I. New England Tran