Ressler

Transcendentalism: The First American Literature Objective: Identify how Transcendentalism changed American culture.

Transcendentalim was a literature movement led around three main people. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman all started the first American literature, not based at all on European culture. Emerson taught mainly of Self- Reliance, Simplified lives, and the need of confidence to place yourself with greatness, while Whitman taught of the Great American Spirit versus the individual. Thoreau mainly taught of Experience, Self-Reliance, and Worship.

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Below is more information on Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.

__Walt Whitman__(Video Below) media type="youtube" key="9yK_XPzYwic" height="315" width="560" Born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Long Island, New York, Walt Whitman was a poet whose verse collection //Leaves of Grass// is a landmark in American literature. Whitman's aim was to transcend traditional epics, eschew normal aesthetic form, and reflect American society to enable the poet and his readers to realize themselves and the nature of their American experience.

__Ralph Waldo Emerson__ media type="youtube" key="rXUkh9MYgJs" height="315" width="420"

Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading part of the Transcendentalist movement. Ordained as a Unitarian minister at Harvard Divinity School, Emerson served just three years before formulating his seperate own spiritual philosophy. His idea of "ideal spirituality" was based on individualism and intuition. His essay Nature was ground-breaking and highly controversial. He lectured widely across the U.S.

__Henry David Thoreau__

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. He began writing nature poetry in the 1840s, with poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as a mentor and friend. In 1845 he began his famous two-year stay on Walden Pond, which he wrote about in his master work, //Walden//. He also became known for his beliefs in Transcendentalism and civil disobedience, and was a dedicated abolitionist.