Transcendentalism：-Ralph-Waldo-Emerson-Emerson-and-Henry-David-Thoreau-：超验主义：艾默生和梭罗培训课件.ppt

1、TranscendentalismEmerson and Thoreau Growth and Development New England Transcendentalism”or“American Renaissance”(1836-1855)the first American intellectual movement;the summit of American Romanticism Centre:Boston and Concord(Emersons home)the beginning of transcendentalism:1836,Nature by Emerson:a

2、 new way of intellectual thinking in AmericaEmersons Definition The universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.Spirit is present everywhere”-Emerson“Transcendentalism:“What is popularly called Transcendentalism among us is idealism;idealism appears in 1842whatever belongs to the class of intuitive

3、thought”-Emerson1842:the Transcendentalism Club:The Dial New Englanders:Emerson,Thoreau,Bronson Alcott,and Margaret Fuller,teachers and clergymen Transcendentalism:derived from the Latin verb“transcendere”meaning“to rise above”“or to pass beyond limits”the recognition in man of the capacity of acqui

4、ring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses,or of knowing truth intuitively,or of reaching the divine without the need of an intercessor.The transcendental law was the“moral law”through which man discovered the nature of God as a living spirit.6 points for major concepts Intuition:The p

5、ower of intuition:people could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuition.Everyone has accwss to a source of knowledge that transcended the everyday experiences of sensation and reflection.Intuition was inner light within.Spirit:As roma

6、ntic idealism,it places spirit first and matter second.Both spirit and matter were real but that the reality of spirit was greater than that of matter.Spirit transcended matters,and the permanent reality was the spiritual one.It stressed essence behind appearance.Nature:It look nature as a symbol of

7、 spirit or God.It stressed unity of humanity and nature.All things in nature were symbols of the spiritual,of Gods presence.Nature was alive,filled with Gods overwhelming presence.Everything in the universe was viewed as an expression of the divine spirit.Beyond physical objects was a universal soul

8、.“oversoul.”Nature was Gods enlightenment toward human beings.Nature can exercise a healthy influence on human mind,so people should come close to nature for instructions.Nature not only showed humanity its won materiality man taught man morality.Natures beauty was the beauty of human kind.Individua

9、lism:The significance of the individual.The individual soul could communicate with god,so it is divine.It can reach God without the help of churches or clergy.The individual was the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of individual was self-reliant and unselfish.People should d

10、epend on themselves for spiritual perfection.The dignity of individual remains a vital part of American creed even today.“Oversoul”:Religion was an emotional communication between and individual soul and the universal“Oversoul”the“over soul”was an all-pervading unitary spiritual power of goodness,om

11、nipresent and omnipotent,from which all things came and of which everyone was apart.It existed in nature and in humanity alike and constituted the chief element of the universe.Generally,the Oversoul referred to spirit or God as the most important thing in the universe.The universal brotherhood of h

12、umanity,and the ultimate resolution of all social problems.A simple and spiritual-oriented lifeInfluence:romantic idealism on Puritan soil Dual Heritage of American Puritanism Edward of notion of inward communication of the soul with God and divine symbolism of nature all find adequate expression in

13、 Emersons Transcendentalism.Franklins self-reliance,self-improvement and self-made virtue Dissatisfied with the materialistic-oriented faith of Boston business men and the cold and rigid rationalism of Unitarianism;eager to save the soul with a doctrine of the mind.Unitarianism:唯一神教唯一神教 William Elle

14、ry Channing(1780-1842)a thoughtful revolt against orthodox Puritanism;rejecting the doctrine of trinity,and believing that God is one person.stressing the tolerance of difference in religious opinion,and giving each congregation the free control of its own affairs and its independent authority.The i

15、ntroduction of idealistic philosophy from France and Germany,the spreading of idealism Kant:an idealistic philosopher in Germany Critique of Pure Reason Thomas Carlyle Sartor Resartus“idealism”“organic filament”and“natural supernaturalism”Coleridges Aids to Reflection;the Friend Platonic doctrine Fr

16、ench eclecticism:Cousin,Collard,Gerando Jouffroy Oriental mysticism:Hindu works(Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita)and Chinese Confucius and Mencius significance a late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy the triumph of intuition over five senses the exaltation of

17、 individual over society the rejection of any kind of restraint or bandage of custom,formalized religion,the new and thrilling delight in nature to emancipate people from the deadening enslavement to the past.And follow god within an ethical guide to life for a young nation stressed the tolerance of

18、 difference in religious opinion,a new and distinctly American culture the worth and dignity of individual as a powerful force for democracy idealism,writers:Emerson and Thoreau,Hawthorne Melville,Lowell,Dickinson,and Whitman.One of the most prolific periods in the history of American liteterature,w

19、eakness not a systematic philosophy,borrowed from too many sources turned to my stoicism rampant individualism,than in a democracy of mutual helpfulness and equal opportunity the denial of the reality of evil the denial of its real spiritual origin Emersons reputation The British critic Matthew Arno

20、ld said the most important writings in English in the 19th century had been Wordsworths poems and Emersons essays A great prose-poet,Emerson influenced a long line of American poets,including Walt Whitman,Emily Dickinson,Edwin Arlington Robinson,Wallace Stevens,Hart Crane,and Robert Frost He is also

21、 credited with influencing the philosophies of John Dewey,George Santayana,Friedrich Nietzsche,and William James One of the major writers of the mid-19th cent.One of the most stimulating American minds,a perpetual optimist Transcendentalisms most seminal forcelife B.1803 in a Unitarian family Educat

22、ed in Harvard:the liberal intellectualized Christianity of Unitarianism Rejected Calvinist ideas of TULIP Resigned his position to be a lecturer,essayist,and poet in 1832(the American Lyceum movement in 1800s)Traveling in Europe and befriending poets such as Wordsworth,Carlyle,and Coleridge(English

23、romanticism,German idealism,and transcendentalismlife After 1850,he gave much of his thought to national politics,social reforms,and the issue of slavery Literary achievements:journals and speeches,essays and poetryNature He calls for the birth of American individualism inspired by nature.Most of hi

24、s major ideas-the need for a new national vision,the use of personal experience,the notion of the cosmic Over-Soul,and the doctrine of compensation-are suggested in his first publication,Nature(1836)Nature is the“first philosophy”the“gospel”of American“the manifesto of American transcendentalism”The

25、 Components for“Nature”Introduction and 8 chapters Nature,commodity,beauty,language Discipline,idealism,spirit,prospects.Major thesis:we should now“enjoy an original relation to the universe”and not become dependant on past experiences of others and on holy books,creeds and dogmanature The essay mar

26、ked the beginning of transcendentalism movement We will walk on our own feet;we will work with our own hands;we will speak our own minds.A nation of men will for the first time exist,because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.-EmersonThe opening of Nature “

27、Our age is retrospective.It builds the sepulchres of the fathers.It writes biographies,histories,criticism.The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face;we,through their eyes.Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?Why should not we have a poetry of insight a

28、nd not of tradition,and a religion by revelation to us,and not the history of theirs.Embosomed for a season in nature,whose floods of life stream around and through us,and invite us by the powers they supply,to action proportioned to nature,why should we grope among the dry bones of the past.?The su

29、n shines today also.There is more wool and flax in the fields.There are new lands,new men,new thoughts.Let us demand our own works and laws and worship.”The closing of Nature“So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes.It shall answer the endless inquiry of the intellect,-What is truth?and o

30、f the affections,What is good?by yielding itself passive to the educated Will.Build,therefore,your own world.As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind,that will unfold its great proportions.A correspondent revolution in things will attend the influx of the spirit”.-EmersonThe Am

31、erican Scholar(1837)A lecture delivered to in Harvard College,1837.Emerson prods the students to become more confident in their abilities and to take pride in native Americanism.“for literary nationalism”&“1837 first severe economic crisis”“Americas Declaration of Intellectual Independence”“we have

32、listened too long to the courtly muses of Europewe will walk on our own feet,we will work with our own hands,we speak our own minds”-EmersonSelf-Reliance(1841)“trust yourself”-Emersonian thesis“There is a time in every mans education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance;that imit

33、ation is suicide”“Trust thyself:every heart vibrates to that iron string.”Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)Reputation:a prose stylist,a lover of nature,a New England mystic,a social philosopher,a particular kind of romantic and a thorough transcendentalist The poet-naturalist,a sweet singer of woodland

34、 beauty A major writer for the 19th cent Amercia a concord warrior,an embattled farmer A powerful literary radical,a socialist An eccentric and a loaferlife B.in Concord,Massachusetts,1817,an intellectual community 1837,journal,a record of his thoughts,his work and his life 1840s living with Emerson

35、 July 1845-Sept.1847,living alone in Walden Pond:a life on his own One night in jail for refusing to pay$2.00 Never traveled far from his town,to him,the spiritual travel was more important Never married:an individualistic life style“Break convention live in new ways.”Never kept an occupation except

36、 taking charge of speakers in the Lyceum Movement and got a little moneyRelationship with Emerson Follower,student,the house manager and co-editor(The Dial)of Emerson A man of action Not harmonious:aloof and austere peopleCivil DisobedienceThe most complete theoretical statement of his basic assumpt

37、ionsThe American Government“has not the vitality and force of a single living man;for a single man can bend it to his will”and“under a government which imprisons any man unjustly,the true place for a just man is also a prison”Civil disobedience advocating nonviolent struggle against social injustice

38、.He denounced the human injustice as shown in the slave system in america and later wrote“A Plea for John Brown”Influences Mahatma Gandhi(1869-1948),Martin Luther King(1929-1968)and others followed his principle in their struggle for independence and human rights“back to nature”1960s generation livi

39、ng in the woods:his celebration of nature and his call to“simplify”stirred people to escape the artificiality of a society in the name of social progressWalden A classic in American literature Deceptively casual A diary of a nature lover Walden is a spiritual book:a book of essays put together,explo

40、ring subjects concerned with Nature,with the meaning of life,and with morality(a semi-philosophical character)The purpose of Walden To reveal the way he lived and thought To reveal the hidden spiritual possibilities in everyones life To condemn the weaknesses and errors of societysubjects Life at Wa

41、lden is a symbol:spiritual inspiration:the water Essentials of life A condemnation of making social improvement and comfort all important The importance of thought over material circumstance Confidence in the individual The escape from the power of time(from temporal life into the life of eternity)T

42、he harmony between ones spiritual life with naturestyle Prophetic Voice Direct forceful sentences Conversational in tone:to put across his philosophical messages to the readers Humor:puns,satire,irony,and sarcasm Proverbial expression Brief tale,fables and allegories Metaphor(from the actual physical world to spiritual reality)