# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stream of Consciousness and Mrs. Dalloway

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
American Literary Movements Timeline Storyboard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
American Literary Movements Timeline - Follow American authors throughout American literature Native American (Before 1600) AMERICAN LITERARY MOVEMENTS

# data[].attributes.headline
44. Lost Generation (by Margaux & Raphael)

# data[].attributes.subject
44. Lost Generation (by Margaux & Raphael)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that's no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch our arms farther... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Idealized past
1. Historical Context
Term used to describe the generation of writers active immediately after World War I. The "Lost Generation"were said to be disillusioned by the large number of casualties of the First World War, cynical,disdainful of the Victorian notions of morality and manners of their elders. The term was popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel, The Sun Also Rises. In that volume Hemingway credits the phrase to Gertrude Stein, who was then his mentor and patron.
What is it ?
The writers
Where did they come from?
American writers who mostly emigrated to Europe
Post WWI America
Literary mouvement
The Lost Generation
2. The writers
4. Their origins
Many young Americans felt a sense of shock at what was perceived as pointless deaths in a war of automatic weaponry and barbaric practices.
This country that they once knew, a safe childhood playground solidly constructed of patriotism, faith, and morality pre-war, had fallen.
The Great Depression affected almost every country in Europe, but it had the worst effect on the United States. In America over 10 million Americans were out of a job.
Ernest Hemingway
Getrude Stein
Creator of the term Lost Generation
Modernist American writer
Friend of Gertrude Stein
Made the term "Lost Generation" popular
Hemingway likely popularized the term,quoting Stein
("You are all a lost generation") as an epigraph to his
novel

Most of them worked there till the beginning of the Great Depression.
moved permanently to Paris
served on the Italian front
Break from traditional narrative
Second lieutenant in the war
Thomas Stearns Eliot
F. Scott Fitzgerald
John Dos Passos
This group　of writers saw the American lifestyle as destroyed/lost
1896-1970
6. Video
What did they want to change?
They wanted a new philosophy replacing the one which had led them into their tomb during WW1 (Existentialism)
Decadence
Gender roles and Impotence
Common themes
A lot in common with his characters
3. Why ?
5. Themes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jqKu8o6s1zAkrlikdVDj8T4hDkC-dxyg_nyj2oxs95Q/edit?usp=sharing
By Margaux & Raphael

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Thomas Stearns Eliot F. Scott Fitzgerald John Dos Passos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that's no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch our arms farther... And one fine morning--So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."Idealized past1.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore our list of at Barnes & Noble®. Shop now & receive FREE Shipping on orders $25 & up!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't get an STD.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked. -- Amiri Baraka

But yet, but yet, woe, woe unto those who think that the Beat Generation means crime, delinquency, immorality, amorality ... woe unto those who attack it on the grounds that they simply dont understand history and the yearning of human souls ... woe in fact unto those who those who make evil movies about the Beat Generation where innocent housewives are raped by beatniks! ... woe unto those who spit on the Beat Generation, the windll blow it back. -- Jack Kerouac

Three writers does not a generation make. -- Gregory Corso

Nobody knows whether we were catalysts or invented something, or just the froth riding on a wave of its own. We were all three, I suppose. -- Allen Ginsberg

The term 'beat generation' was introduced by Jack Kerouac sometime around 1948 to describe his social circle.

The Beat Generation, also known as the beat movement, were a group of American writers who emerged in the 1950s. Among its most influential members were Gary Snyder, the radical poet Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

Jack Kerouac was the acknowledged leader and spokesman for the Beat Generation. What could be loosely described as the underlying philosophy was visionary enlightenment, Zen Buddhism, Amerindian culture. The Beat Generation were centred around the artist colonies of North Beach (San Francisco), Venice West (Los Angeles) and Greenwich Village (New York City). The Beat Generation rejected the prevailing academic attitude to poetry, feeling that poetry should be brought to the people. Readings would take place in the Coexistence Bagel Shop and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, often to the accompaniment of Jazz. A common theme that linked them all together was a rejection of the prevailing American middle-class values, the purposelessness of modern society and the need for withdrawal and protest.

The major Beat writings include Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Allen Ginsberg's Howl, and William Burroughs' Naked Lunch. Both Howl and Naked Lunch became the focus of obscenity trials in the United States that helped to liberalize what could be legally published.

Allen Ginsberg said some essential effects of Beat Generation artistic movement could be characterized in the following terms:

Spiritual liberation, sexual "revolution" or "liberation," i.e., gay liberation, somewhat catalyzing women's liberation, black liberation, Gray Panther activism.

Liberation of the word from censorship.

Demystification and/or decriminalization of some laws against marijuana and other drugs.

The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form, as evidenced by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other popular musicians influenced in the later fifties and sixties by Beat generation poets' and writers' works.

The spread of ecological consciousness, emphasized early on by Gary Snyder and Michael McClure, the notion of a "Fresh Planet."

Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization, as emphasized in writings of Burroughs, Huncke, Ginsberg, and Kerouac.

Attention to what Kerouac called (after Spengler) a "second religiousness" developing within an advanced civilization.

Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation.

Respect for land and indigenous peoples and creatures, as proclaimed by Kerouac in his slogan from On the Road 'The Earth is an Indian thing.'

Bob Dylan, The Beatles were heavily influenced by the Beat Generation. Members like Allen Ginsberg were influential in the anti-war movement. Others who were influenced include: Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, Country Joe and the Fish, Crosby Stills Nash and Young. The Beat Generation were followed by the hippies, anti-war movement, which led to the environmental movement, deep ecology and Earth First!

The Beat Generation inspired the Black Mountain poets, so named as they wrote for the Black Mountain Review. The Black Mountain poets were a loose group of poets who coalesced around Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan and Charles Olson while they were teaching at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. Their style was typified by a move away from the structured poetry of T S Eliot to a freer, looser style. The essay 'Projective Verse' by Charles Olson became the group manifesto. Creeley edited the Black Mountain Review, which featured the work of William Carlos Williams, Paul Blackburn, Denise Levertov, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder. Much of the group's early work was published in Origin.

The Beats were in turn influenced by William Blake, Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau.
Deep ecology is the philosophy of environmental ethics, the spirituality of Gaia. Deep ecology leads to direct action.Literature ~Allen Ginsberg ~Jack Kerouac ~Gary Snyder ~Henry David Thoreau ~Keith Parkins 2005 -- March 2005 rev 1Walt Whitman

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked. -- Amiri Baraka But yet, but yet, woe, woe unto those who think that the Beat Generation means crime, delinquency, immorality, amorality ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night . . .

# data[].attributes.body
Excerpts from Ginsberg's poems

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Howl and Other Poems Quotes by Allen Ginsberg

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
52 quotes from Howl and Other Poems: 'Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an angel!'

# data[].attributes.body
(recording of Allen Ginsberg)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Allen Ginsberg reads "Howl," (Big Table Chicago Reading, 1959)

# data[].attributes.body
from movie Howl with James Franco

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A literature genres podcast detailing nine literature genres and the clues or hints associated with them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Writing Resources - Essay Help | An Overview of Literary Genres

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A definition and overview of literary genres to guide you in describing the style, technique, tone, length, and content of your - and others' - literary composition.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Writing genres (commonly known, more narrowly, as literary genres) are determined by narrative technique, tone, content, and sometimes length. The most general genres are epic, tragedy, comedy and creative non-fiction. They are generally (not always) defined by the cultural movement of the historical period of time in which they were composed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Lost Generation | Definition, Members, & Origin

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lost Generation: The Lost Generation was a group of young American writers who established their literary reputations in the 1920s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Lost Generation is the generation that came of age during World War I. Demographers William Strauss and Neil Howe outlined their Strauss-Howe generational theory using 1883-1900 as birth years for this generation. The term was coined by Gertrude Stein and popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel The Sun Also Rises.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
SparkNotes: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Video SparkNote

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Lost Generation: Literature of the 1920s

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Project for an APUSH class on the literature--from novels, poems, magazines, and cartoon strips--and popular authors, of the 1920s.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Literary Figures of the 1920s: The Lost Generation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While the phrase "Lost Generation" classifies a generation of youth, it has a special connotation in the literary world. Many Americans who'd experienced Europe during the Great War returned overseas as a way to escape mainstream America. A community of expatriates formed in Paris, and in looking at America from a distance, these writers created a new literary culture that captured the futile spirit of the times.

Ernest Hemingway, who helped popularize the term "Lost Generation" in his novel "The Sun Also Rises," was one of the leaders of this group of expatriates who fled to Paris. Much like he and his contemporaries, Hemingway's protagonists tended to be honest men who lost hope and faith in modern society.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's work also delves into this feeling of futility. His 1920 debut novel "This Side of Paradise" captures a mood of a generation that has fought wars and no longer believes in God or man. Fitzgerald's later works also capture the hedonistic spirit of the Jazz Age with "The Great Gatsby," an exploration of the moralities of the wealthy, being a seminal work of this time.

Poet e. e. cummings served as an ambulance driver in France during the war but was captured and imprisoned by the French, who thought he was a spy. After the war, he embodied the persona of the Lost Generation writer, living in both Greenwich Village and rural Connecticut, with frequent trips to Paris. His poetry pushes the boundaries of form, and by playing with spelling and syntax, he created new techniques and structures for his work.

Among the Lost Generation writers, John Dos Passos stands out as a novelist who really attempted to assimilate European culture. American by birth, Dos Passos spent his formative years in Europe, returning to America for college before spending time in Spain. He eventually volunteered for the war effort, which influenced his work "Three Soldiers," the first major anti-war novel of this period. However, as time passed, Dos Passos became more conservative in his political views and was estranged from his contemporaries, who were very much disillusioned with the current ideology.

These writers all helped give a voice to the Lost Generation. Read on for more information about this age.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
While the phrase "Lost Generation" classifies a generation of youth, it has a special connotation in the literary world. Many Americans who'd experienced Europe during the Great War returned overseas as a way to escape mainstream America.

# data[].attributes.headline
19. Lost Generation -- Great Writers Inspire

# data[].attributes.subject
19. Lost Generation -- Great Writers Inspire

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
World War I, originally called the Great War, resulted in more than nine million deaths. The official starting point was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. However, this was simply the spark that lit a tinder keg of overbuilt armies, imperial tensions, and complex alliances creating two opposing political forces in Europe: the Allies and the Central Powers.

The Great War became a war of attrition due to the use of trench warfare, in which both sides dug elaborate trenches where they could shelter from the enemy's artillery fire. The trench would be protected by barbed wire. In between the trenches stretched No Man's Land, and troops ordered over the top would have to climb up and cross a considerable space unprotected from the enemy's firearms in order to reach their foes and attack. Such a charge usually would gain a side only a small stretch of land, if any, and would result in many deaths. Chemical attacks had not yet been banned; Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est' describes the experience of facing a gas attack.

While living in the trenches, conditions were deplorable. Disease was rife: Trench foot, in which soldiers suffered from gangrene and fungus as a result of wet, muddy conditions; Trench fever, which included conjunctivitis, rashes, and headaches; and Trench mouth, or acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. At least two million deaths in the trenches resulted from disease before the Treaty of Versailles ended the war on 28 June 1919.

In the aftermath of the war there arose a group of young persons known as the "Lost Generation." The term was coined from something Gertrude Stein witnessed the owner of a garage saying to his young employee, which Hemingway later used as an epigraph to his novel The Sun Also Rises (1926): "You are all a lost generation." This accusation referred to the lack of purpose or drive resulting from the horrific disillusionment felt by those who grew up and lived through the war, and were then in their twenties and thirties. Having seen pointless death on such a huge scale, many lost faith in traditional values like courage, patriotism, and masculinity. Some in turn became aimless, reckless, and focused on material wealth, unable to believe in abstract ideals.

In literature, the "Lost Generation" refers to a group of writers and poets who were men and women of this period. All were American, but several members emigrated to Europe. The most famous members were Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T. S. Eliot.

Common themes in works of literature by members of the Lost Generation include:

Decadence - Consider the lavish parties of James Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or those thrown by the characters in his Tales of the Jazz Age. Recall the aimless traveling, drinking, and parties of the circles of expatriates in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast. With ideals shattered so thoroughly by the war, for many, hedonism was the result. Lost Generation writers revealed the sordid nature of the shallow, frivolous lives of the young and independently wealthy in the aftermath of the war.

Gender roles and Impotence - Faced with the destruction of the chivalric notions of warfare as a glamorous calling for a young man, a serious blow was dealt to traditional gender roles and images of masculinity. In The Sun Also Rises, the narrator, Jake, literally is impotent as a result of a war wound, and instead it is his female love Brett who acts the man, manipulating sexual partners and taking charge of their lives. Think also of T. S. Eliot's poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and Prufrock's inability to declare his love to the unnamed recipient.

Idealised past - Rather than face the horrors of warfare, many worked to create an idealised but unattainable image of the past, a glossy image with no bearing in reality. The best example is in Gatsby's idealisation of Daisy, his inability to see her as she truly is, and the closing lines to the novel after all its death and disappointment:

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eludes us then, but that's no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch our arms farther... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
World War I, originally called the Great War, resulted in more than nine million deaths. The official starting point was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. However, this was simply the spark that lit a tinder keg of overbuilt armies, imperial tensions, and complex alliances creating two opposing political forces in Europe: the Allies and the Central Powers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Spanish American literature | Infoplease

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
the writings of both the European explorers of Spanish America and its later inhabitants. See also Spanish literature ; Portuguese literature ; Brazilian literature

# data[].attributes.body
The Lost Generation

# data[].attributes.headline
15. ASSIGMENT: Two Key Passages in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

# data[].attributes.subject
15. ASSIGMENT: Two Key Passages in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Remember when you were a kid and had a crush on a really hot cartoon character? Then you got older and had a crush on a movie star? Then you got older, had a crush on your best friend's girlfriend, stole her, married her, and had three kids? That's kind of how realism in literature developed.

Really?

The day was August 14, 2005. I borrowed a book from my 12 year old nephew. It had a dragon on the cover. I had officially become a complete dork.

My life was spinning out of control. I had spent my life ridiculing the Star Trek Convention, fantasy literature, and King Arthur's knights with my football teammates at lumberjack camps. Now, I was reading books with dragons on the front. It was time for a change. I needed a return to realism.

I spent the next few weeks reading George Eliot, William Dean Howells, Henry James, Jack London, and Henrik Ibsen.

Definition of Realism in Books

A break from Romanticism, Realism is any effort to portray life as it truly is. In the middle of the 19th century, kings and queens, warriors and knights, demonic cats, ghosts, sea creatures, and monsters gave way to farmers, merchants, lawyers, laborers, and bakers. Realism in literature was part of a wider movement in the arts to focus on ordinary people and events

The following Realism writers find themselves oft anthologized in high school and middle school texts:

Ambrose Bierce

Kate Chopin

Stephen Crane

Theodore Dreiser

W.E.B. Dubois

Mary Wilkins Freeman

Hamlin Garland

Henry James

Jack London

Mark Twain

Charles Dickens

Emily Bronte

George Eliot

Oscar Wilde

John Steinbeck

Characteristics of Realistic Fiction

Still need some help? These characteristics are dead give aways you're reading realism:

1. Realists take their subject matter from ordinary life. Realists were influenced by the spread of democracy in Europe and North America. Middle and lower class citizens were becoming increasingly important. Detailed settings became important as a means of establishing the realistic nature of main characters and places. Dialect became popular as did an emphasis on local color.

2. Realists placed an emphasis on characters. As democracy spread, so did the importance of the individual. As individuals became more important in the "real" world, characters became more important in Realist literature. Character, not plot, is the essence of Realism Literature.

3. Realists concerned themselves with ethical issues. As with all literature, the conflict often involves a moral dilemma faced by one of its participants. In Realism Literature, this dilemma had to be portrayed accurately, honestly, and in detail. Realists avoided preachiness.

Practice or Essay Ideas

Analyze characters with a Strength and Weakness chart. Realism Literature incorporates characters with ordinary struggles that ordinary people relate to.

Judge characters. This could take the form of a pros/cons chart or can be as elaborate as a mock trial. Trifles by Susan Glaspell is an excellent often anthologized play for holding a mock trial.

Identify characteristics of Realism. Find several passages for students to analyze. Most high school texts have several stories that qualify.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is Realism in Literature? Books for the Every Day Person

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Realism refers to any attempt to portray life accurate. Realism in literature chronicles the lives of ordinary people--farmers, shop keepers, waitresses, construction workers. Realism literature is a reaction to heroism and romanticism that portrayed unrealistic deeds by elevated members of society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
American literary realism: definitions, bibliography, links

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Literary Realism

Anyone who thinks they might be able to muster up a decent definition of Realism in American literature probably can. Realism is just as it sounds - it was a style and type of writing that emerged during a specific time period in this country's literary history when writers sought to portray life as it really was: real characters in real lives with real jobs and real problems. Why is this significant, you might ask? Well, Realism in American literature, which lasted from 1865-1910, was a reaction to and a rejection of Romanticism. In order to really understand the weight of this last statement, it's time to look at a little history.

Context: Romanticism

Romanticism in literature in the U.S. took hold from about 1830-1865. While you might guess that Romanticism is a period during which everybody wrote about love, this isn't always the case. Yes, love was very much a popular topic, but so were larger ideas like and opportunity. Basically, this was a time of growth in the United States, and the literature reflected that. Remember the promise of expansion that the frontier adventure brought. Think about changes in industry and that spirit of hope and limitless potential.

As a result, Romantic literature focused on larger themes and topics: the potential of good vs. evil, the idealization of love, the common man as a hero. This literature was formal in the sense that the language and theme elevated the work to a higher purpose: to communicate great lessons or to ask important questions of the reader. The fancy language, some argue, was also just a case of a group of American authors trying to prove they were as elegant and smart as the English. It was plot-focused, imaginative, mostly very positive, emotionally intense and at times - you guessed it - not very realistic. This was purposeful. Ultimately, Romantic literature strove to communicate a message that was very much a reflection of the spirit of the time.

Changes: Emergence of Realism

Well, things change. And so did the U.S. As the 19th century churned on, the country's immigrant population and working base grew, while simultaneously, changes in industry became life-altering. Machines were built. Manufacturing became easier as the factory life grew. Urban areas expanded with both business and home life. Cities became the center of the action. Ultimately, this industrialization and urbanization led to major economic and social changes. This part is important. In this new world, there grew a greater divide between the rich and the poor, and for the first time, (pay attention here) there was a larger, literate working-class population. And there was a need for literature that reflected their lives. Their real lives.

Realism: Characteristics and Authors

So, because of this growth of this industrial nation, a social shift really did take place. Life at this point was not about the promise of westward expansion anymore; rather, it was about working a job, feeding a family and dealing with the hand you were dealt. There really wasn't anything romantic about it. Writers like Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Rebecca Harding Davis and Henry James saw this gap in the landscape of literature at the time. So they began to write real stories with real characters who often spoke in a way that reflected their region, class, gender and age. Mark Twain especially is known for the use of dialect. Rather than looking towards an ideal, these authors focused on an accurate representation of the middle class here and now.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
the literary realism movement: a response to romanticism - video & lesson transcript | study.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Literary Realism Movement: A Response to Romanticism - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Anyone who thinks they might be able to muster up a decent definition of Realism in American literature probably can. Realism is just as it sounds - it was a style and type of writing that emerged during a specific time period in this country's literary history when writers sought to portray life as it really was: real characters in real lives with real jobs and real problems. Why is this significant, you might ask?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This lecture highlights some basic information about the American Transcendentalism movement. It is in no way a complete look at the movement, but it provides a basic background and understanding of the literary focus of the time period.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
American Literature Periods - Transcendentalism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Definition of Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism was an idealistic literary and philosophical movement of the mid-19th century. Beginning in New England in 1836, various visionaries, intellectuals, scholars, and writers would come together regularly to discuss spiritual ideas. The Boston newspapers, which advertised their meetings, called the group the Transcendentalists. In this video, we will explore the main ideas of Transcendentalism, along with some of the key figures of this important American literary movement.

The Transcendentalists were radical thinkers. At the time of their meetings, New England was still holding on to a remnant of Puritanical values. There was a sense that organized religion had authority over one's personal life and individual choices. For the Transcendentalists, this was a big no-no! They were quite critical of conformity, or forcing one's behavior to match social expectations or standards. They were nonconformists - people who do not conform to a generally accepted pattern of thought or action. They rejected common ideas and practices, particularly organized religion. There wasn't a Transcendentalist church or a holy book of Transcendentalism. Instead, there were regular meetings for lively conversation and a shared hope of cultivating a modern, fluid, and personal sense of spirituality.

Transcendentalist Ideas

Now bear with me, I know this sounds a bit voodoo or New Age: the Transcendentalists believed that for every person there exists a private relationship between the self and the universe. In fact, they believed that each person carries the universe within himself. They thought that every individual has a universal soul, referred to as ' The Eternal One.' Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist and poet, was at the center of the Transcendentalist movement. He explained the idea of the universal soul by stating that 'within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty; to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.' Basically, Emerson is saying that all of the world, its knowledge and splendor, lives within us. This certainly sounds like an idea that might be discussed on Oprah's couch!

In addition to the universal soul, the Transcendentalists believed in intuitive thought, which is the ability to know something through instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning. They believed that one should guide her life by what she feels to be true. We've all had flashes of intuition: grabbing an umbrella on a perfectly sunny day or sensing that someone's about to call right before the phone rings. The Transcendentalists believed that these flashes of intuition were the most fundamental form of knowledge. Intuition should have precedence over the intellect, according to the Transcendentalists, because intuition was provided by the universal soul.

Transcendentalism was really a hodgepodge of ideas. The Transcendentalists were very well read and borrowed from Puritanism (the bits they liked), German Idealism, Eastern religions, and more. They merged and fused concepts, creating a flexible set of values. They valued simplicity, a life not bound to material possessions. They valued self-reliance, or a reliance on one's own powers and resources rather than those of others, and trust in one's own heart and thoughts. They valued openness, openness to the beauty of the world.

Transcendentalism's Impact on American Literature

The impact of Transcendentalism on American literature can easily be seen today. For example, I think immediately of Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. In the book, Gilbert goes on a journey both physically and spiritually. Recently divorced, she finds self-reliance. She comes to value the beauty of the everyday (pasta!). She meditates, hoping to connect with the 'Eternal One' within her. The Transcendentalists, particularly Emerson, perpetuated the idea that writers are seers. It's the writer's duty to see the world clearly, to summon the world to life. Emerson called poets 'liberating gods.' Literature was a platform to liberate people, to help them see what needs to be seen: nature, spirituality, self-identity, and social injustice. The Transcendentalists were forceful critics of slavery and gender inequality. In transcendental theory, every individual has to be respected because every individual has a universal soul.

Transcendentalists also placed significant emphasis on imagination. Imagination allows the mind to be resourceful, to form new ideas that are not present to the senses. As the writer or reader imagines, he transcends himself. This allows him to move beyond his personal experience, his mind and body, to consider something anew. The ability to imagine can effect change. The Transcendentalists wanted their work to have an altering effect on individuals and on society as a whole. For the Transcendentalists, man needed to live in the world, participate in it, look at it closely, and take action.

Important Figures in Transcendentalism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
transcendentalism: impact on american literature - video & lesson transcript | study.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Transcendentalism: Impact on American Literature - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Transcendentalism was an idealistic literary and philosophical movement of the mid-19th century. Beginning in New England in 1836, various visionaries, intellectuals, scholars, and writers would come together regularly to discuss spiritual ideas. The Boston newspapers, which advertised their meetings, called the group the Transcendentalists.

# data[].attributes.headline
7.  YOUR TASK:  In groups, read the assigned website about transcendentalism and come up with keypoints to share with the class.

# data[].attributes.subject
7.  YOUR TASK:  In groups, read the assigned website about transcendentalism and come up with keypoints to share with the class.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American Transcendentalist, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, essayist, and poet wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854);

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. .... A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.--Ch. 1

Writing on such varied topics as Economy, Reading, Winter Animals, and Solitude, Thoreau spent just over two years in a cabin he built on the edge of Walden Pond on the property of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was a place for him to find solitude while he wrote, but for his ever-questioning mind it was also an experiment in self-reliance and living close to nature. Thoreau did not assert that others should live the same way, for Walden is the definitive text on Thoreau's own philosophy of life, what he believed in and how he lived it. But many have now come to see the importance of what Thoreau did, and see the significance of his message; that man's spiritual quest to find harmony within himself should also reflect directly on his social, political, and cultural surroundings. In his Biographical Sketch to Thoreau's Excursions (1863) Emerson writes;

He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay a tax to the State: he ate no flesh, he drank no wine, he never knew the use of tobacco; and, though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, wisely, no doubt, for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature. He had no talent for wealth, and knew how to be poor without the least hint of squalor or inelegance. .... Thoreau was sincerity itself ...

In his most famous essay "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" (1849) Thoreau states "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically." He spoke publicly on many political issues at the Concord Lyceum, many of his speeches later published including "Paradise (to be) Regained" (1843), "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854), and his controversial "A Plea For Captain John Brown" (1859). He researched, supported, and wrote about many social and political causes for reform in his lifetime including civil rights and nature conservancy. In 1846 he was jailed for tax evasion, disagreeing with how public money was spent and on what, including war and the spread of slavery, but was soon released when thereafter friends and family paid his taxes for him. Through his actions and writings, Thoreau has inspired countless individuals including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. who have also taken up the causes he so emphatically believed in. There are many groups now founded in honour of Thoreau including The Thoreau Society and The Walden Woods Project at the Thoreau Institute in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Thoreau was friends with many influential thinkers and writers of his time including Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May Alcott, Ellery Channing, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne and his son Julian Hawthorne. Many authors and poets including Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, and William Butler Yeats have sung his praises and believed that, like Emerson, "The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost."

Henry David Thoreau was born at what is now the Thoreau Farm Trust in Concord, Massachusetts on 12 July 1817 to Cynthia (1787-1872) and John Thoreau (1787-1859), pencil maker. He had two sisters and one brother; Helen, Sophia, and John. While he lived the majority of his life in Concord, Henry travelled to a few other States including New York and Maine, which inspired many essays and The Maine Woods (1864). He also went to Canada and wrote An Excursion to Canada in 1853. Thoreau attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he studied the classics as well as science and math, graduating in 1837. From then on Nature became his hall of study; he returned to his beloved Concord and worked in his father's pencil factory. He also did some tutoring and began to write for periodicals. Some of his earliest writings include "A Natural History of Massachusetts" (1842), "Sir Walter Raleigh" (1843), and " Thomas Carlyle and His Works" (1847).

In the 1850's Thoreau became a land surveyor, an occupation which afforded him much time to go for long walks where he could immerse himself in his natural surroundings and gather information to further write about. He kept lengthy and detailed journal accounts of his travels; A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) is based on a trip he took with his brother "I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, .... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me." His essay "Walking" (1861) was followed by Cape Cod in 1865, based on a series of excursions he took to the Atlantic sea-side town to study her people and the Cape's and flora and fauna. Thoreau wrote on myriad topics, often including poetry and anecdotes. A supporter of Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution, some of his writings include detailed observation and analysis of botanical, meteorological, and geographical elements including "The Succession of Forest Trees" (1860), "Autumnal Tints" and "Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree" (1862).

Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis on 6 May 1862 and now rests in the Thoreau family plot of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer?--Ch. 18, Walden

Biography written by C. D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2008. All Rights Reserved.

The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.

Forum Discussions on Henry David Thoreau

Recent Forum Posts on Henry David Thoreau

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American Transcendentalist, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, essayist, and poet wrote Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854); The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. .... A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.--Ch.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson and a searchable collection of works.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
See related links to what you are looking for.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass introduced the "free verse" style of poetry, reflecting the individualistic tone of transcendentalism. This picture of Whitman with a butterfly appeared in the 1889 edition.

Transcendentalism is a very formal word that describes a very simple idea. People, men and women equally, have knowledge about themselves and the world around them that "transcends" or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or feel.

This knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses. People can trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. A transcendentalist is a person who accepts these ideas not as religious beliefs but as a way of understanding life relationships.

The individuals most closely associated with this new way of thinking were connected loosely through a group known as The Transcendental Club, which met in the Boston home of George Ripley. Their chief publication was a periodical called "The Dial," edited by Margaret Fuller, a political radical and feminist whose book "Women of the Nineteenth Century" was among the most famous of its time. The club had many extraordinary thinkers, but accorded the leadership position to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Margaret Fuller played a large part in both the women's and Transcendentalist movements. She helped plan the community at Brook Farm, as well as editing The Dial, and writing the feminist treatise, Woman in the Nineteenth Century.

Emerson was a Harvard-educated essayist and lecturer and is recognized as our first truly "American" thinker. In his most famous essay, "The American Scholar," he urged Americans to stop looking to Europe for inspiration and imitation and be themselves. He believed that people were naturally good and that everyone's potential was limitless. He inspired his colleagues to look into themselves, into nature, into art, and through work for answers to life's most perplexing questions. His intellectual contributions to the philosophy of transcendentalism inspired a uniquely American idealism and spirit of reform.

The theory of books is noble. The scholar of the first age received into him the world around; brooded thereon; gave it the new arrangement of his own mind, and uttered it again.
It came into him, life; it went out from him, truth.
It came to him, short-lived actions; it went out from him, immortal thoughts.
It came to him, business; it went from him, poetry.
It was dead fact; now, it is quick thought.
It can stand, and it can go.
It now endures, it now flies, it now inspires
Precisely in proportion to the depth of mind from which it issued, so high does it soar, so long does it sing.

-Excerpt from The American Scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Transcendental Club was associated with colorful members between 1836 and 1860. Among these were literary figures Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Walt Whitman. But the most interesting character by far was Henry David Thoreau, who tried to put transcendentalism into practice. A great admirer of Emerson, Thoreau nevertheless was his own man - described variously as strange, gentle, fanatic, selfish, a dreamer, a stubborn individualist. For two years Thoreau carried out the most famous experiment in self-reliance when he went to Walden Pond, built a hut, and tried to live self-sufficiently without the trappings or interference of society. Later, when he wrote about the simplicity and unity of all things in nature, his faith in humanity, and his sturdy individualism, Thoreau reminded everyone that life is wasted pursuing wealth and following social customs. Nature can show that "all good things are wild and free."

Excerpt from "Walden"

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

"Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify."

- from Walden (1854), by Henry David Thoreau

As a group, the transcendentalists led the celebration of the American experiment as one of individualism and self-reliance. They took progressive stands on women's rights, abolition, reform, and education. They criticized government, organized religion, laws, social institutions, and creeping industrialization. They created an American "state of mind" in which imagination was better than reason, creativity was better than theory, and action was better than contemplation. And they had faith that all would be well because humans could transcend limits and reach astonishing heights.

Emerson's Writings
Many of Ralph Waldo Emerson's addresses, lectures, essays, and other writings are available on this website. You can search all the texts for words or phrases, and there's even a discussion forum for sharing questions and comments about the great American transcendentalist writer.

Report broken link

I loafe and invite my soul, / I lean and loafe at my ease observing / a spear of summer grass. - Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," Leaves of Grass.
Learn More...

Report broken link

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott, and Louisa May Alcott are all buried in the same cemetery.
Learn More...

Report broken link

She wore this circle of friends, when I first knew her, as a necklace of diamonds about her neck. -Emerson on Margaret Fuller.
Learn More...

Report broken link

If you like our content, please share it on social media!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Transcendentalism is a school of philosophical thought that developed in 19th century America. Important trancendentalist thinkers include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. The transcendentalists supported women's rights and the abolition of slavery, and were critical of organized religion and government.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Romanticism vs Transcendentalism
Romanticism and transcendentalism are closely related. However, there are certain concepts that are emphasized in both. These may be views on a person's individuality, nature, philosophies, or spirituality.

Romanticism started in Europe during the 18th century. It is an artistic, intellectual, and literary movement that shaped the start of the Industrial Revolution. The movement emphasized an aesthetic experience identifying new emotions as anxiety, awe, terror, and horror.

Transcendentalism also started during this period. The term is coined from "transcendental" philosophy by Immanuel Kant. The transcendentalists have a strong faith in the power of divinity, nature, and individualism. However, these beliefs are relative to that of the romantics. Moreover, the transcendentalists believe that God is the center of the universe and respect should be given to Him. Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most popular transcendentalists even to now. He believes that wisdom and self-realization are the keys for growth. This concept also relates with good and bad. The lack of self growth and terror amongst fellows generates evil, and happiness and generosity are the good results of an act. Romantics believed in this concept as well; however, they likely stressed the power of good in preventing evil.

Romanticism and transcendentalism have always been a literary movement appreciated in both American and British literature. It may have been forgotten due to the expansion of contemporary ideas and modernism. Both movements draw inspiration from something beyond the ordinary or something external from a human perception. This made it very popular during the second half of the 18th century.

Romanticism embraces aesthetic categories like arts, literature, and music. However, we can't deny that much of the romantics drew inspiration from the classic ideal models. They also explored the ideas of exquisiteness, the weird and exotic, and laid it on their craft (writing or painting). In contrary, the transcendentalists believe in a philosophy of refinement but still connects to sensual motives. Transcendentalism also pertains to the ground of religion, inner spirituality, and the essence of man in upholding nature as a sanctuary.

Summary:

1.Romanticism educes strong emotions and exemplifies significant events. Romanticism is not about soft music, candlelit dinners, or fine dining. It is about a strong motivational force that focuses on patriotism, loyalty, and allegiance. Transcendentalism is the power of knowledge to transcend intellectual growth and spirituality. It also highlights the power of divinity, nature, and individualism.
2.Romanticism exemplifies the importance of emotions and freedom over intellectual growth. They believe that everyone should follow what they're feeling. Transcendentalism draws inspiration from the beyond or external to the human perspective even beyond reasoning and normal traditions.
3.Romanticism doesn't heavily emphasize the power of God as the center of the universe; however, transcendentalism strongly believes in God, divination, and the truth of miracles.
4.As a literary movement, romanticism initiates a positive voice on their works. Take heed to the literary masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Transcendentalism literature is very sensible and creates an exaggeration on good vs. evil. Ralph Waldo Emerson is one the famous transcendentalists up to now.

Email This Post : If you like this article or our site. Please spread the word. Share it with your friends/family.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Romanticism vs Transcendentalism Romanticism and transcendentalism are closely related. However, there are certain concepts that are emphasized in both. These may be views on a person's individuality, nature, philosophies, or spirituality. Romanticism started in Europe during the 18th century. It is an artistic, intellectual, and literary movement that shaped the start of the Industrial Revolution.

# data[].attributes.body
Major tenets