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THE TRANSCENDENTALIST GROUP

 

 

Before we begin with this essay, we need to go back to the time in America gained its Independence which is in the year 4 July 1776. After gaining Independence it's interesting to see how America established itself as a strong nation. This growth was initiated with the industrialization in North America even in the south cotton, agriculture flourished and modern means of transportation started in the form of network of railways, across the length and breadth of the country, as a consequence trade flourished.

 

With technology there was a revolution in the printing press leading to the publication of penny papers which would cheap affordable newspapers that help to improve the mass communication throughout the country consequently, promoting education. However social domains for still being ignored, these issues were most noticeable in the period before the civil war that is 1820 - 1860 the period is referred to as the Antebellum period.

 

Thus this period initiated the state of ‘isms’ and these ‘isms’ helped us to understand the neglected spheres of social life that have to be improved. Now which 19th century group has focused on all the essential ‘isms’ of the Antebellum period that group was the transcendentalist group. What's interesting about this group is that this group initiated an ‘era of reforms.’

 

 So let us understand the contribution of each member starting with Ralph Waldo Emerson who was the pioneer of reformism is also referred to as the ‘father of transcendentalism’ and he is mostly referred as the ‘sage of concord’ what's interesting about Ralph Waldo Emerson is that was a unitarian priest so that he could bring about a lot of modification in a belief that he was accustomed to for a very long time. But before we can see the reforms introduced in this belief of Unitarianism it is important to understand

What is unitarianism??

Unitarianism is a liberal religion that can be understood when compared to the ancient religion Catholicism. Where in Catholicism talks about the trinity that consists of the Sun, the father and the Holy spirit but in Unitarianism there is only one God that is Jesus Christ. In a Layman’s language you can say that the Catholicism is that your actions will be judged by God and he will decide whether you go to hell or heaven where as there is no good or bad individual in Unitarianism we are all equal for Jesus Christ.

 

So we should use reason to analyse the importance of religious text. With that understanding of Unitarianism let us better understand the reforms Emerson brought out. Emerson believed that individual is more important than religion so we need to focus on the transformation of individual by spiritually awakening him. Hence reformation for Emerson was all about trusting the voice of your conscience. He first introduced this concept to the world in his speech called Divinity school address in Harvard divinity school in the year 1841.

 

The second ‘ism’ the transcendentalist group worked on was ‘abolitionism’. The transcendentalist who worked on this was ‘Henry David Thoreau’ who promotes the idea of ‘raising the voice against Exploitation’ through his essay ‘civil disobedience’

Do you know which great leader was influenced by the Thoreau essay?

Well it is our dear Babu ‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or Mahatma Gandhi’ who started the Non - Cooperation movement against the British in India. Eventually leading the path to ‘Purna Swaraj’ this influence further report on to the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America that is ‘Martin Luther king Jr’ remember his enigmatic speech

 “I have a dream that one day on the hils of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of the former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood….”

 

The third ‘ism’ that the transcendentalist group worked on during the Antebellum period was ‘feminism’ that was headed by a ‘Margaret Fuller’ female member of the transcendentalist group who was advocating equal rights for women , a feministist women of the 19th century.

 

The next member of the transcendentalist group promoted ‘era of modernism’ in America this was ‘Walt whitman’ who adopted an unconstrained form of writing for his works by using ‘Free Verse’ that is a poetic form with no rhymes scheme and metre in his collection of poems titled ‘Leaves of grass.’

The next question which should come to your mind is what is transcendentalism?

Emmerson  use the phrase first to describe transcendentalism which is a ‘little beyond’ so the aim of transcendentalism is to move beyond the social construct of the society and focus on the inner self this awakening of the inner self, which is often termed as the Renaissance spirit of the 19th century. The term was also used by the writer F.O Matthiessen in his work ‘American Renaissance : Art and expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman’.

 

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