Transcendental And Anti Transcendental Movements Essay -- essays resea

Transcendental and Anti-Transcendental Movements     During the New England Renaissance period of 1840-1855, literature underwent two very unequivocal movements known as Transcendentalism and Anti-Transcendentalism. Both movements were very influential and consisted of authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (Transcendentalist) and Nathaniel Hawthorne (Anti-Transcendentalist). Concentrating their ideas on human nature and intuition, rather than on logic and reason, twain these movements served as a flourishing revolt against previously accepted ideas.     The Transcendental movement focused its ideas on the essential unity of creation, the pure goodness of charity and in individual intuition as the highest source of knowledge, rather than sensory experience. Optimism dominated peoples thoughts and was shown in the ideas of the Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed deeply in human potential and in the justice of Nature. Truth, the y believed, was also reflected in Nature and how it made you feel, and Nature was a reflection of the beauty of human nature. They focused on the possibilities of the human spirit and the capability of it compass the "Over Soul". The "Over Soul" is the so-called state in which all beings (Nature, God, and Humanity) are spiritually united. During this movement, individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority were also highly st...