Difference Between Romanticism and Transendinlalism in American and British Writers Essay Example for Free

Difference Between Romanticism and Transendinlalism in American and British Writers Essay Difference Between Romanticism and Transendinlalism in American and British Writers The expression Romantic gained currency during its own time, roughly 1780-1850. However, the Romantic era is to identify a period in which certain ideas and attitudes arose, gained the idea of intellectual achievement and became dominant. This is why , they became the dominant mode of expression. Which tells us something else about the Romantic era which expression was perhaps everything to do with them expression in art, music, poetry, drama, literature and philosophy. Romantic ideas arose both as implicit and explicit criticisms of 18th century Enlightenment thought. For the most part, these ideas were generated by a sense of being unable to deal with the dominant ideals of the Enlightenment and of the society that produced them. Which characterized Transendinlalism very differently from that of Romanticism. The difference of Transendinlalism was that it was a literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. However, the Romantics thought differently because they that, that romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individuals expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The Romantics felt all the opinions of the Enlightment were fraught with dangerous errors and oversimplification. Romanticism may then be considered as a critique of the inadequacies of what it held to be Enlightened thought. The difference between these two eras are the British and American writers that have chosen either the path of romanticism or transendinlalism. The characteristics of Romanticism are different to those of Transendinlalism. Romanticism results in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had in common only a revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism. The basic aims of romanticism were various: a return to nature and to the belief in the goodness of humanity; the rediscovery of the artist as a supremely individual creator; the development of nationalistic pride; and the exaltation of the senses and emotion over reason and intellect. In addition, romanticism was a philosophical revolt against rationalism. Another difference between those of Romanticism and Transendinlalism are it’s themes that it represents. One of the many themes of romanticism are dreams and visions. The most notable example of the emphasis on dreams and visions in romantic literature is Coleridge’s poems is â€Å"Kubla Khan†written in 1816, he claims to have written is during a dream while deeply asleep . While transcribing the lines from his dream, he was interrupted by a visitor, and later claimed that if this interruption had not occurred, the poem would have been much longer. The idea that a person could compose poetry while asleep was a common amongst romantics. Although critics at the time were not particularly enthusiastic about Kubla Khan. Nature had a overwhelming influence during the Romantic Era. In Kubla Khan describes the nature that he is surrounded by; Walls and towers were raised around twice five miles of fertile ground, filled with beautiful gardens and forests. A deep romantic chasm slanted down a green hill, occasionally spewing forth a violent and powerful burst of water, so great that it flung boulders up with it like rebounding hail. The river ran five miles through the woods, finally sinking in tumult to a lifeless ocean. Amid that tumult, in the place as holy and enchanted / As eer beneath a waning moon was haunted / By woman wailing to her demon-lover, Kubla heard ancestral voices bringing prophesies of war. The pleasure-domes shadow floated on the waves, where the mingled sounds of the fountain and the caves could be heard. It was a miracle of rare device, the speaker says, A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! Coleridges is inspired by the beauty and charmingness that nature gives them during the romantic era. Before this period of time another era had began called The Age Of Enlightenment. In the 18th century â€Å" The Enlightenment,† made this movement advocated rationality as a means to establish an authoritative system of ethics, aesthetics, and knowledge. Which then gave the transendinlalism it’s place in this movement. Transendinlalism is a literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. It is no coincidence that this movement took off just as the American literary tradition was beginning to blossom. Transcendentalism—though inspired by German and British Romanticism—was a distinctly American movement in that it was tied into notions of American individualism. In addition to the theme of American democracy, transcendentalist literature also promotes the idea of nature as divine and the human soul as inherently wise. Transcendentalism also had a political dimension, and writers such as Thoreau put their transcendentalist beliefs into action through acts of civil disobedience to the government. The nineteenth century was a volatile one, beginning with the hope and promise of democracy and the development of an American identity and moving towards mass devastation and division by the middle of the century. Slavery and the Civil War, women’s rights, growing industrialism and class division —all of these events were influential and each had a role to play in the transcendentalist movement. Transendinlalism had many themes to those of the Romantics at their time like self- wisdom. Quite simply, Transcendentalism is based on the belief that human beings have self-wisdom and may gain this knowledge or wisdom by tuning in to the ebb and flow of nature. Transcendentalism revolves around the self, specifically the betterment of the self. Where Emerson and his followers differed from earlier philosophical and religious beliefs was in the idea that human beings had natural knowledge and could connect with God directly rather than through an institution such as organized religion. Transcendentalism celebrated the self, an important step in the construction of American identity, better understood as the notion of American individualism—one of the cornerstones of American democracy. Nature played an important role in the Transcendentalist view. Nature was divine and alive with spirit; indeed, the human mind could read the truths of life in nature. To live in harmony with nature and to allow ones deepest intuitive being to communicate with nature was a source of goodness and inspiration. In fact, writers not only celebrated Americas great landscape, but also constructed the wilderness as a type of dramatic character that illustrated moral law. The desire for an escape from the evils of society and a return to nature became a permanent convention of American literature. Transcendentalist thought emphasized individualism. Only by rejecting the irrelevant dogmas in place and searching for inner truth could one experience the deep intuition of spiritual reality. In relation, Transcendentalism is also very democratic, asserting that the powers of the individual mind and soul are equally available to all people. These powers are not dependent on wealth, gender, background, or education, but on the individuals willingness to release their own imaginative power to realize his or her place in the Oversoul. The obvious results from Transcendentalist efforts are manifest in the intense moral enthusiasm that characterized Transcendental thinkers. Society, with its emphasis on material success, was often seen as a source of corruption. To combat this evil, many Transcendentalists were associated with such moralist groups as the anti-slavery group, the march for womens rights, and other aid societies. Ultimately, some Transcendentalists hoped to reform society by creating an American utopia with a perfect social and political system. The Transcendentalists can be exasperatingly vague in their prescriptions for spiritual transformation, a vagueness which derives principally from their distrust of all forms of ritual and inherited religious forms. The transcendent individual is often a solitary figure, contemplating his soul (and by analogy, the soul of all humanity), and contemplating other souls through the reading of serious literature. But the central recurring theme that emerges is a return to nature, where the artifice and depravity of society cannot reach. Thus Thoreau leaves Concord and heads for Walden Pond to explore the great truths of the natural world. Thus Jones Very, in his poem The Silent, distinguishes between the sounds that strike the ear and those that strike the soul when one walks in the woods: Tis all unheard; that Silent Voice, Whose goings forth unknown to all, Bids bending reed and bird rejoice, And fills with music Natures hall. And in the speechless human heart It speaks, whereer mans feet have trod; Beyond the lips deceitful art, To tell of Him, the Unseen God. † Thus the similarities in the Romantic and Transendinlalism era are ver closely together. For the writers of these eras believed in different yet similar things. For example, nature was one of the similarities of both eras they had marked the world in believing that nature is something that will keep you clam and feel safe like all writers at the time believed in. For romantics believed in intellectual and artistic belief in their writing. Thus they also had many differences for reason over belief this is one of the subjects that the romantics and transcendentalist did not agreed in. During the 18th century their truly was no difference in both the romantic and Transendinlalism era. The only difference was those of the people’s writings of this period who made this era last for years.