1.7: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Father of the Transcendental Movement
As we discussed before, Emerson was one of the main literary figures of this time. Read this introduction about his life and beliefs. Transcendentalism owed its interest in nature and individuality to Romanticism, but with its focus on the wide expanse of the US and the energy of its explorers, it evolved into a uniquely American expression. For the time, Transcendentalists were particularly attuned to the interests of non-white persons, namely Native Americans and African-Americans. Look for these inclinations here.
Read Emerson's poem "Gnothi Seauton". Translated from Greek as "Know Thyself", the poem is a free-verse meditation on self-knowledge, loss, and spirituality. Consider how Emerson's thoughts here relate to the overall concepts of Transcendentalism. Do any of his verses seem to divert from those concepts, or reinforce or represent them?