Big Idea of Transcendentalism by Anthony Camacho

anthonycamacho153_ — 2023-11-13 18:32:58 UTC

When talking about the transcendentalists and their ideals we tend to gravitate to a few simple explanations for their thinking.

While some feel as if they were a religious movement. People who can see past their rooted nature in their belief's understand and see the appreciation for the nature around them and their want to stop discourse in society by being a better individual.

anthonycamacho153_ — 2023-11-13 18:37:59 UTC

For this project I would like to focus on the aspect of transcendentalism where the person focuses on themselves rather than the society that they reside in.

anthonycamacho153_ — 2023-11-15 17:22:20 UTC

The poem, "The soul selects her own Society" captures this ideal by using symbolic objects and ideas. In stanza 1-4, Dickinson uses the statement, "The Soul selects her own Society- Then - Shuts the Door - To her Majority - Present no more -," This statement conveys a person/soul picking its want/need and shutting out the "divine majority". I see the divine majority as a society of people who think what they do is right, so to go against society and be "present no more-" is to go beyond societal norms and not accept its limitations.

There is a Solitude of Space by Emily Dickinson

anthonycamacho153_ — 2023-11-15 17:41:15 UTC

The poem "There is a solitude in space" by Emily Dickinson is, in my opinion, a perfect example of the ideal held by the transcendentalists. I feel that the way she conveys the distress of never truly being oneself is very touching and really makes you understand the discomfort Dickinson feels. In stanzas 5-8, she ponders, "Compared with that profounder site—that polar privacy—a soul admitted itself—Finite Infinity." I feel that when she talks of a profounder site, a place with intensity, shes really speaking about how the polar privacy of being alone allows her to participate in the intensity of being one with nature. You can see this when, almost regretting it, the soul admits to itself that there is a finite infinity. To me, this means that while she can enjoy the world and its wonders, the future of the profounder site is not hers to see, and society will find a way to change it.