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media type="custom" key="29548171" align="right" =Analyze the emergence of the Transcendentalist Movement through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.=

David Henry Thoreau

 * === Influential Literature Page on Walden by Henry David Thoreau ===

Transcendentalism
Click here for a lesson plan from readwritethink.org called "Examining Transcendentalists through Popular Culture"
 * Transcendentalists believed that God is inherent in nature and in human beings and that each individual has to rely on his or her own conscience and intuition for spiritual truths.
 * An individual is the spiritual center of the universe-and in an individual can be found the clue to nature, history and, ultimately, the cosmos itself. It is not a rejection of the existence of God, but a preference to explain an individual and the world in terms of an individual.
 * Transcendentalists accepted the neo-Platonic conception of nature as a living mystery, full of signs-nature is symbolic.

__**[[image:timeline2_rus.svg.png]]Timeline of Events**__
1840- Founding of //The Dial,// a Transcendental magazine, which "enjoyed its obscurity" to use Emerson's words, for four years. 1841- The launching of George Ripley's Brook Farm-A Utopian Experiment. 1842-Alcott's utopian experiment at Fruitlands. 1845-Thoreau goes to live at Walden Pond. 1846-Thoreau is put in jail for his refusal to pay poll tax. 1850-Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act; the transcendentalists found themselves increasingly involved in abolition of slavery. [|Fugitive Slave Act] 1859- Charles Darwin's Origin of Species is published. 1862-Henry David Thoreau dies.
 * Click here to view the archives of the magazine.

Here is the full content of //The Dial// provided by American Transcendentalism Web.

Transcendentalists focused their religious and spiritual attention inward. They rejected material possessions and the acquisition of earthly wealth. The early ideals of transcendentalism were derived from the writings of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher. Several famous authors and thinkers of the time- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Bronson Alcott—followed this revolutionary movement.

==Ralph Waldo Emerson==

Selected Quotes
 * "Who so would be a man must be a nonconformist"
 * "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character"
 * "We become what we think about all day long"

Originally a Unitarian minister, Emerson soon came to reject the ideas of the church to adopt more naturalistic views. He believed in the sanctity of nature and the fellowship of human beings. He encouraged Americans to create their own identity rather than conform to old European standards.

Emerson was also a talented essayist who wrote consistently on transcendentalist theories throughout his life. He is known as one of the most influential transcendentalist thinkers to this day.He was influenced by such schools of thought as English romanticism, Neoplatonism, and Hindu philosophy. Emerson is noted for his skill in presenting his ideas eloquently and in poetic language.

His essay, //Nature//, written anonymously in 1836 is often credited as the founding document of the Transcendentalism movement.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Brandeis University Web site.

Click here to view the complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Essener_Feder_01.png width="32" height="38" link="http://thoreau.eserver.org/whowhy.html"]]Henry David Thoreau
Selected Quotes


 * "All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man."
 * "As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."
 * "Be not simply good - be good for something."

Henry David Thoreau was known as a human rights activist, abolitionist, environmentalist, and transcendentalist thinker. On July 4, 1845, Thoreau moved to a small cabin on Emerson's property on Walden Pond to embark on what would become his most famous escapade.

Civil Disobedience is Thoreau's famous statement of how individuals should protest social injustice.

Click here for more the Walden Wood Project and resources on Thoreau's life and work. Students can find out more about Thoreau and Walden Pond, it also includes a number of other essays and journal entries from Thoreau.

At Walden Pond, Thoreau wrote his book, Walden, that has since become the most influential American transcendentalist text.

He is also quoted by anarchists since he identified as such.The deliberate aim of Thoreau was to live a life as nearly approaching naturalness as possible; and to this end he passed his time largely in solitude and in the open air. As he says, "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."

Thoreau's Walden. Explore Walden, podcast with Professor Annette Woodlief.

Henry David Thoreau: Who He Was and Why He Mattered. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from Thoreau Reader Web site.

Click here for the lesson plan "Thoreau's Circle" from Edsitement.



**[[image:Female_Rose.png]]Margaret Fuller**
Margaret Fuller was a transcendentalist and women's rights advocate.
 * She was the first American to write a book about equality for women--//Women in the Nineteenth Century// published in 1845.

For more, see Margaret Fuller, Lost Transcendentalist from The Boston Globe, February 5, 2012.

Also, Margaret Fuller Bicentennial (1810/2010)

Click here for information about Boston and the connection between Transcendentalism and the abolitionist movement. Includes information about how African Americans in Boston were influenced and effected by these movements.




 * [[image:Multimedia.png link="@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyyorqSleAc"]]The Passion Flower, a reading of a poem by Margaret Fuller on YouTube**


 * See also video biography Margaret Fuller on YouTube**


 * [[image:podcast icon.png width="60" height="60" link="@http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/life-margaret-fuller"]]The Life of Margaret Fuller a podcast from RadioWest**

Click here for a series of activities from Margaret Fuller's Adult Education Center.

[[image:Female_Rose.png]]Emily Dickinson


Click here to view Emily Dickinson's involvement with the transcendentalist movement.

Click here to read some of Dickinson's work and a biography.

Click here for a webquest on Emily Dickinson.that includes poetry and video about the poet and her life.

**Transcendentalism and Pop Culture ( Present Day Transcendentalism)**
Transcendentalist lesson plan for 9-12th graders [|Transcendentalism and Popular Culture]

[|Green Day and Transcendentalism] transcendental music in the present

[|Transcendentalism In Our Movies]

Works Cited: Poets http://www.poetseers.org/early_american_poets/henry_david_thoreau Poets http://www.poetseers.org/quotes/emerson_quotes

Below was accessed March 26, 2018 Lesson plan http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/examining-transcendentalism-through-popular-320.html

History Channel https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts

Videos: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+video+on+transcendentalism&view=detail&mid=10428F5D2683FB059F9B10428F5D2683FB059F9B&FORM=VIRE https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+video+on+transcendentalism&view=detail&mid=10428F5D2683FB059F9B10428F5D2683FB059F9B&FORM=VIRE