Furthermore, no period has been the topic of so much disagreement and confusion over its defining principles and aesthetics. Romanticism, then, can best be described as a large network of sometimes competing philosophies, agendas, and points of interest.
The adherents to Transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be arrived at not just through the senses, but through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit. As such, they professed skepticism of all established religions, believing that Divinity resided in the individual, and the mediation of a church was cumbersome to achieving enlightenment.
The genesis of the movement can be accurately traced to and the first gathering of the Transcendental Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The father of the movement, an appellation he probably did not relish, was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson lacked the vitality and desire to follow in her path.
Though their hold on the public imagination was short-lived, the long-lasting influence that the Transcendentalists had on American literature cannot be denied.
For Transcendentalism was a distinctly American expression, with concerns and ideals that perhaps did not fully translate in England or Continental Europe. A philosophical-literary movement cannot solve such problems, but it can provide the vocabulary to discuss them reasonably.
On the most basic level, Transcendentalism represented a new way of understanding truth and knowledge.
The roots of the philosophy go back to Germany, specifically the writings and theories of Immanuel Kant. In contrast to the scientific revolutions which were daily adding to the store of facts, Kant concerned himself with the abstractions of existence — those things which cannot be known for sure.
He argued that individuals have it in their power to reason for themselves whether a thing be true or not, and how to fit their reasoning into an overall view of the world.
Kant set himself apart from those who believed the senses to be perfect measures of reality. He encouraged a healthy level of doubt and skepticism, but not to the point of nihilistic despair.
Kant asserted that humans must embrace the fact that some things cannot be known with certainty, no matter how advanced science and technology become.
In addition to their heady philosophical forebears, the Transcendentalists owed a great debt to the English Romantics of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many distinctly Romantic tropes echo through the pages of Transcendental literature.
Obviously, the predilection to turn to the natural world for intimations of truth was a recurrent theme for the Romantics. In Transcendental philosophy, the grind of ordinary life and society are seen as barriers between the self and the spirit.
Thus, Nature presents a way to free the mind of its typical distractions. Another strongly Romantic concept that the Transcendentalists embraced was the renewed potency and potentiality of the individual. Specifically, the imagination was glorified as one of the defining, almost divine characteristics of consciousness.
Through imagination, the human mind could extend itself in ways that had never been considered. Transcendentalists differed somewhat from the Romantics in that they ultimately wanted to effect change, both personally and globally.
Romanticism, generally speaking, was too much preoccupied with the ego and aesthetics to work for change in the real world. This newly enlightened, transcendent individual could go into the world and work to make it a better place. The Transcendental Movement was nothing if not idealist.Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and prolific writers of the Romantic Period.
First published: (collected in The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, ) Type of work: Poem A young man visits the tomb of his deceased lover on the anniversary of her death.
An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee Essay Words | 7 Pages An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee In life, as in death, Edgar Allan Poe evoked a feeling of sympathy from his readership.
ENGL Intro to Drama credit: 3 Hours. Explores such topics as the history of dramatic form, the major dramatic genres, the dramatic traditions of various cultures, and key terms used in the analysis of dramatic works.
“Poe’s Genre-Crossing: From Domesticity to Detection” examines the crucial but critically unremarked influences of domestic fiction on the genre-founding detective stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Domestic novels achieved their immense appeal in the early. Behbud Muhammedzade Prepared by Niwar A. Obaid December 11, Introduction As described by many critics and literary writers, Edgar Allan Poe is indeed one of the most influential writer, critic, poet and editor, in American history and very well-known in the world of literature.