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"He adapted ideas garnered from the then-current Romantic literatures in order to extend American libertarianism and individualism beyond the political and religious spheres to those of social and personal life. "

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"Essential values: individualism, idealism, and the divinity of nature."

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"Transcendentalists did not believe in organized religion, but they were very spiritual people. ... They believed that nature is sacred, and that it is imperative for individuals to connect with nature"
Transcendentalists viewed god as someone who didn't focus on one person.

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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.

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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.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott, and Louisa May Alcott are all buried in the same cemetery.
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She wore this circle of friends, when I first knew her, as a necklace of diamonds about her neck. -Emerson on Margaret Fuller.
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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.

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Brief Overview of the Movement

Transcendentalism is a philosophical and social movement that began around 1836, in New England. However, before we delve into defining and comprehending this movement, it's necessary for one to understand why it was developed. It was created as a rebellious reaction to the previous Age of Reason, and its rationalist way of thinking. The original members of the movement also believed society and its organized institutions (for example, religion and politics) were corrupting the purity of individuals. The movement was created based on ideas from a variety of sources, including Hindu texts, various other religious ideas, and German idealism.

Transcendentalism, as a whole, centered on the writings and teachings of American author Ralph Waldo Emerson; it especially focused on his piece entitled, Self-Reliance. Transcendentalists were some of the first known non-conformists in America, and thus they critiqued contemporary society for its unthinking conformity. Through his writing, Emerson urged everyone to find his own 'original relation to the universe.' Now that we have a better idea why this movement was created, let's move on and focus on its core, essential values.

Transcendentalist Values

Transcendentalists believed in numerous values, however they can all be condensed into three basic, essential values: individualism, idealism, and the divinity of nature.

Individualism

As we discussed briefly earlier, transcendentalist followers alleged that organized institutions in society, like religion and politics, negatively tainted individuals' innocence. At the same time, they believed that individuals are at their best when they are entirely independent and 'self-reliant,' hence Emerson's essay of the same name. The notion of thinking for oneself without following the rules set forth by a society is one of the fundamental tenets of transcendentalism. This concept inspires one to have his own free thoughts, based on his own values, rather than the values of others.

As you can probably imagine, during the early 19th Century when this movement was first created, its members were not well-received, or even liked, by many others. However, rather than feeling defeated, true transcendentalists remained true to their movement's new values and continued to advocate for their unpopular, nonconformist ideas. Because of this, many members of society, or the conformists, feared transcendentalists and assumed them to be out to wreak havoc on society. These people were mistaken though, because the true purpose of becoming an individual, according to transcendentalist belief, is to promote the peace and harmony of becoming oneself. One of Emerson's famous aphorisms helps clarify this belief: 'conformity is the death of individualism.'

Idealism

The second key value of the transcendentalist movement is that of idealism. This value is a little more self-explanatory. Between the Age of Reason and Transcendentalism was the Romanticism movement; similarly to the British Romantics, this movement focused on the use of creativity and imagination, something the Age of Reason obviously greatly strayed from. The focus of idealism in the transcendentalist way of thinking sought to continue to utilize the innovative, imaginative ideas from the previous Romantic Movement. The members of the transcendentalist movement hoped to break away from the strict confines of the Age of Reason, and bring society into a more ideal, enjoyable environment.

Divinity of Nature

The final essential transcendental value is the belief in the divinity of nature. Transcendentalists did not believe in organized religion, but they were very spiritual people. Remember how we said some of their original doctrines were based on the works of spiritual advisors and Hindu teachings? They believed that nature is sacred, and that it is imperative for individuals to connect with nature.

Transcendentalists were lovers of nature, and did not think it was something that could be controlled by anyone. Instead, they believed that the only thing people can control is what is in their own minds (remember their focus on individualism?). According to transcendentalists, if one senses a strong connection to nature, then he will be able to understand his oversoul and, in effect, be able to live a successful, complete life, free from any constraints placed upon him by conforming to society. The term oversoul is a transcendentalist term, which explains that everything is connected and thus happens for a reason; therefore, transcendentalists also believe that, since nature is divine, we must not interfere with it and leave it be as God intended.

Passage Analysis

Now that we have read and understood the three quintessential components of the transcendentalist movement, let's read and analyze a brief passage for its incorporation of these values. This is paragraph two of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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the american transcendentalists: values & explanation - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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The American Transcendentalists: Values & Explanation - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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Transcendentalism is a philosophical and social movement that began around 1836, in New England. However, before we delve into defining and comprehending this movement, it's necessary for one to understand why it was developed. It was created as a rebellious reaction to the previous Age of Reason, and its rationalist way of thinking.

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"Transcendentalists perceive society as superficial and that society revolves around the titles, stereotypes and the customs of the masses rather than focusing on the liberties and culture of an individual. They believe in the subjective truth."

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“Transcendentalist believed that people are inherently good and should follow their
own beliefs.”