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Emerson and Thoreau believed that nature's undeniable beauty and spirituality should be appreciated more and that by doing so one can become more self reliant, which was the ultimate goal of their transcendentalist philosophies.
Trancendentalism was evolved out of idealist philosopies, so it only makes sense that it plays a role in their perspective of nature too.
Emerson choses to approach the subject through analogies and the usage of poetry as an example.
He exudes poets as being capible of producing the most ideal forms inspired by nature, yet ironically enough, this is done by manipulation of natures true qualities (symbolically magnifying or shrinking their values).
He then goes on to one again relate the subject withing nature to religion, stating: "Idealism sees the world in God. It beholds the whole circle of persons and things, of actions and events, of country and religion, not as painfully accumulated, atom after atom, act after act, in an aged creeping Past, but as one vast picture, which God paints on the instant eternity, for the contemplation of the soul."
"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."
THE END
Transcendentalism:
A Rough Definition
dictionary.com
Wikipedia: Transcendentalism
Wikipedia: Transcendentalism
The transcendentalist movement was based off of the ideal that in order to obtain knowledge or find answers, one must not rely on research or ideas produced by others, but rather experience it themselves as an individual.
The Transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson
&
Henry David Thoreau
Born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803.
Served as Class Poet at Harvard College where he graduated.
Died at the age of 44. Emerson wrote his eulogy.
Married his first wife, Ellen Louisa Tucker and moved back to Boston from Florida.
He embarked on his 2 year experiment in simple living in a self-built house on land owned by Emerson in a forest.
Toured Europe and later wrote of his travels in English Traits.
Moved into the Emerson house where he seved as the chidren's tutor, editorial assistant, and repair man/gardener.
Returned to America and made the first of what would become some 1,500 lectures discussing The Uses of Natural History in Boston.
His first essay was published in The Dial.
Met Emerson, who encouraged him to contribute to a periodical called The Dial.
Studied at Harvard University.
Born in Concord, Massachusetts.
Emerson died from pneumonia after over a decade of decreasing health.
Emerson's essay, "Nature" collectively summarizes his transcendentalist ideas about the subject.
Categorized into 8 different chapters.
Chapter I NATURE
Chapter II COMMODITY
Chapter III BEAUTYChapter IV LANGUAGE
Chapter V DISCIPLINEChapter VI IDEALISMChapter VII SPIRITChapter VIII PROSPECTS
"A nobler want of man is served by nature, namely, the love of Beauty."
"The aspect of nature is devout. Like the figure of Jesus, she stands with bended head, and hands folded upon the breast. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship."
"First, the simple perception of natural forms is a delight."
Emerson first embellishes on simply the perception of the tangible things in nature (forms).
He speaks of the "the dewy morning, the rainbow, mountains, orchards in blossom, stars, moonlight, [and] shadows in still water" to provide examples.
As it's been clearly displayed, spiritual and religious applications toward nature were very prominant in Transcendentalist thought.
In this aspect of appreciation he is merely urging man kind to go out and really look at the nature around them to appreciate it for what it is.
Throughout the entirety of "Nature," it is Emmersons aim to draw attention to his belief that man does not appreciate nature's beauty as they should.
Emerson implies that nature has much to tell us about our creator and our own spirituality.
These chapter titles give the reader a good idea of things Emerson related to nature.
"Three problems are put by nature to the mind; What is matter? Whence is it? and Whereto?"
"The presence of a higher, namely, of the spiritual element is essential to its perfection."
The next level of appreciation, Emerson claims, is through acknowledgement of a higher being; allowing a spiritual connection.
"The visible heavens and earth sympathize with Jesus."
Emerson ponders these questions which identify the mysteries behind nature, yet its spiritual properties remain undeniable.
This idea will be conceptualized more so under analysis of Chapter VII.
He thus chooses to "distribute the aspects of Beauty in a threefold manner."
i.e. "Beauty," "Spirit", and "Idealism," in which we will look at in more depth.
"There is still another aspect under which the beauty of the world may be viewed, namely, as it becomes an object of the intellect."
The last aspect is an intellectual one. Emerson states that by looking upon the beauty of Earth, man will be compelled to understand and create beauty of their own.
"The beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation, but for new creation."
His belief is that creating art is an automatic response to an appreciation of nature's beauty. "The world thus exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty."
Now moving on to Thoreau:
Many of Thoreau's ideas stemmed off of ideas and encouragements from Emerson.
In his later years, he became more directly involved by studying botany and natural history. He became a land surveyor and kept journals of his observations .
Connecting back to the elements of the "Rough Definition" of Trancendentalism:
Emerson's view of nature provided an ideal environment with undeniable beauty and setting of spirituality, allowing it to hold a vital role in Transcendentalist point of view.
To him, nature expressed "radical correspondence of visible things and human thoughts,"
"Walden"
Thoreau's book, detailing his experiences while at Walden Pond.
The idea behind his experience in Walden Pond, was to immerse himself in nature in hopes of gaining more insight about life.
As identified earlier, transcendentalist thought revolved around the concept of self-reliance; finding answers by yourself and within yourself.
Thoreau utilized nature to apply this concept.
By immersing himself in nature he belived that it could accomplish a better understanding of society, as well as spiritual discovery.
Emerson and Thoreau were both prominant figures in the Transcendentalist movement, as well as each other's ideas and discoveries.
Emerson and Thoreau both acknowledged the importance, beauty, and inherent goodness of nature.
They shared very similar views on nature which contributed to their transcendentalist theories.
Nature provided a pure, spiritual, and beautiful setting for one to "find" themself. Making it a vital element of transcendentalist thought.