The American Renaissanceclass summary Chronology: roughly mid-century: 1840-60 Genres of the Renaissance: Essay: cultivated by the Transcendentalist

Group ( alph !aldo "merson# $enry %avid Thoreau& Poetry: !alt !hitman# "mily %ic'inson Narrative: $erman (elville# )athaniel $a*thorne Common characteristics: -Cultural nationalism: "We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe." R. W. Emerson -%emocratic ideology (egalitarian# anti-elitist# antislavery&+ -,eculiar use o- -orm and language+ They brea' *ith standing genre moulds and use a peculiar archaic language+ ((elville# -or e.ample# is -ond o"li/abethan diction and rhythms&+ -Tendency to symbolism and allegory+ TRANSCENDENALIS -0ntellectual leader: alph !aldo "merson

-1thers: (argaret 2uller# $+ %+ Thoreau -3ocations: 4oston and Camden -5ournals: The Dial# North American Review -6tems -rom 7nitarianism (an optimistic# positive branch o- ,rotestantism&8emphasi/ed cooperation# altruism# harmony# tolerance+ -0n-luenced by re-orm movements8organised movements interested in changing aspects o- social li-e (alcohol consumption# patriarchal domination# education# diet# relationships etc etc&+ -3ibertarian and humanitarian: stressed an ethical *ay o- li-e9 hence# a philosophy o- li-e rather than an abstract philosophical system+ -4ut also interested in metaphysics: *hat lies beyond the physical8the :1versoul;# the :7niversal mind;+ :)ature is the opposite o- the soul# ans*ering to it part -or part+ 1ne is seal and one is print+ + + + 0n yoursel- is the la* o- all nature + + + in yourselslumbers the *hole o- reason9 it is -or you to 'no* all9 it is -or you to dare all+; "merson# :The <merican 6cholar;# 66# => -"clectic philosophy: mi.ed !estern and "astern in-luences (this is especially the case in Thoreau&+

-0ntellectual independence: :"ach age# it is -ound# must *rite its o*n boo's + + + + The boo's o- an older period *ill not -it this+; + !+ "merson -6ocial independence: communal living (4roo' 2arm& or e.periments in autonomy (Thoreau&+ -<ttention to everyday li-e# perceived through symbolism: "I embrace the common; I explore and sit at the feet of the familiar, the low. ive me insight into today... What do we really !now the meaning of" #he meal in the fir!in; the mil! in the pan; the ballad in the street; the news of the boat; the glance of the eye; the form and the gait of the body$$show me the ultimate reason of these matters; show me the sublime presence of the highest spiritual cause lur!ing, as always it does lur!, in these suburbs and extremities of nature; let me see every trifle bristling with the polarity that ranges it instantly on an eternal law; and the shop, the plough, and the ledger referred to the li!e cause by which light undulates and poets sing;$$and the world lies no longer a dull miscellany and lumber$room, but has form and order;

there is no trifle, there is no pu%%le, but one design unites and animates the farthest pinnacle and the lowest trench." R. W. Emerson, &#he 'merican (cholar) $ere are other e.amples o- this same idea: Ta'e this passage -rom Thoreau?s !alden# -or e.ample: :6hams and delusions are esteemed -or soundest truths# *hile reality is -abulous+ 0- men *ould steadily observe realities only# and not allo* themselves to be deluded# li-e# to compare it *ith such things as *e 'no*# *ould be li'e a -airy tale and the <rabian )ights? "ntertainments+; !alden <nd another e.ample# by (argaret 2uller: :!ho does not observe the immediate glo* and serenity that is di--used over the li-e o- *omen# be-ore restless o- -ret-ul# by engaging in gardening# building# or the lo*est department o- art@ $ere is something that is not routine# something that dra*s li-e to*ard the in-inite+; (argaret 2uller# The !omen?s 3a*suit -,ractical orientation: to learn through direct observation o- li-e9 lin'ing o- thought and li-e+ "*nly so much do I !now as I have lived. . . . +ife is our dictionary." R. W. Emerson

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach.... ,eople-s lives are frittered away by detail." #horeau, Walden $'t the same time, elitist re.ection of industriali%ation, popular culture, urban life, the crowd, the press. Works: $R. W. Emerson, &#he 'merican (cholar), Nature, Representative Men. $/. 0. #horeau, Walden 123456 $7argaret 8uller, The Womens Lawsuit 123596