Transcendentalism Test Flashcards
Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul. What he announces, I must find true in me, or wholly reject; and on his word, or as his second, be he who he may, I can accept nothing.
Author: Emerson
Title: Divinity School Address
Summary: Emerson previously discussed the value of virtue, something that all humans intrinsically possess and something that we must embrace, helping guide us on our individual journey to true knowledge. He warns people that they must only learn through their own virtue and should avoid following the teachings of others/replicating the journey of others. External forces/teachers may help guide us (“point”) on our journeys, but this guidance should only be accepted if it rings true in the individual. This statement likely offended the audience, since it discounts the idea of Jesus being an all-knowing teacher whose doctrines ought to be followed by all.
Analysis: This passage reflects the transcendentalist philosophy of true knowledge and how it can only be achieved through an individual journey. A common theme reflected throughout each of these works is the idea that a person should not accept/follow the teachings of others, especially if they do not apply to the individual. Instead, a person should embrace their intrinsic knowledge/virtue and embark on their own personal journey. It also reflects transcendentalists’ distrust of formal religion because the church relies on people following the teachings of Jesus, neglecting individual thought and personal desires.
The snow storm was real; the preacher merely spectral; and the eye felt the sad contrast in looking at him, and then out of the window behind him, into the beautiful meteor of the snow. He had lived in vain. He had no one word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended, or cheated, or chagrined. If he had ever lived and acted, we were none the wiser for it. (Emerson 6)
Author: Emerson
Title: Divinity School Address
Summary: This excerpt serves as an example of what Emerson deems to be the “church’s second error:” that preachers do not preach correctly because they instruct rather than guide/point. He states that preachers preach without life or emotion, something that is reflected in this passage. They fail to truly live, as they follow the teachings of Jesus rather than finding their own individual truths.
Analysis: This passage reflects the transcendentalist belief that people can only achieve true knowledge/self-discovery by following their own teachings. Once they do that, they can truly live. Because the preacher merely followed the words of God, he failed to embark on a personal journey that would lead to true knowledge. Emerson states that the snowstorm, unlike the preacher, is “real,” further reflecting transcendentalist ideals, specifically Emerson’s belief that a person can find truths through nature (the snowstorm which is real and personal) rather than through doctrines (the preacher)
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Title: Walden
Summary: In this quote, Thoreau is referring to the restrictive social structures that keep restrict people from individual thought or action. Men are forced to labor for their entire lives to make enough money to live up to societal expectations/provide for their families. Thus, they do not have time to truly achieve knowledge and simply work tirelessly to survive rather than to live.
Analysis: This quote reflects the Transcendentalist belief that true living requires individual thought/action and thus requires people to break from societal expectations. Thoreau believes that laborers live too lavishly/place too high of a value on material items and that they should rather simplify their lives to the fullest extent. People tend to exaggerate the importance of labor, yet nature is more important/forgiving than labor will ever be. Thus, people should not resign to survival, but start living by rejecting mindless labor and simplifying their lives.
I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Title: Walden
Summary: In this passage, Thoreau is warning his readers to avoid enterprises/jobs that are status-dependent. During Thoreau’s time, people owned fewer articles of clothing, all of which Thoreau believed reflected a person’s selfhood. Thus, if a certain job requires a person to shed part of this personhood, they should avoid it because it is extraneous to personal growth.
Analysis: This quote reflects the transcendentalist belief in the simplification of life and the rejection of material goods. Thoreau is urging his readers to reject the demands of high society by not subscribing to its expectations/not changing themselves to fit them. It also represents the idea that personal growth is a very individual journey, since it encourages people to avoid stepping into roles that do not fit them and which would hinder the formation of their personhood. Enterprises should instead require a new wearer of clothes, or a person whose clothes/personhood fit said enterprise and who would consequently grow as a person.
The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Title: Walden
Summary: Thoreau makes this statement at the beginning of his commentary as to how we spend our lives. Thoreau introduces this idea before using the lives of his neighbors in order to make his point. His neighbors are farmers in Concord who frequently deal with the upkeep of their plot. In addition to maintaining their farm, Thoreau makes a point in mentioning how their farm was a burden placed upon them as an inheritance, rather than a personal choice as to how his neighbors wanted to live their lives. At the bottom of this section, Thoreau ends by highlighting that despite the hard work in maintaining farmland, much of this effort is not enough to pay off life expenses.
Analysis: Thoreau’s statement relates to the first quote on the first page of Walden, in which he questions why those burdened with inheritances should begin digging their graves “as soon as they are born.” Through these commentaries, Thoreau is saying that all the time spent trying to maintain property and material possessions is a waste. Thoreau does not see the value of employment and work, and he reduces its value to simply a means of getting what we want, rather than bringing any satisfaction or meaning to an individual’s life. These ideas bring up the transcendental value of meaningful work, as well as the rejection of unnecessary property/lack of simplicity.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived…I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. (Thoreau 9)
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Title: Walden
Summary: Thoreau’s statement is part of chapter 2, in which he describes the conditions of his life at Walden and his motivations for living this kind of life. This quote serves as another introductory statement. Thoreau mainly references his goal of simply living in nature. In other words, Thoreau denounces the many establishments/details we have filled our lives with and encourages individuals to burden themselves less.
Analysis: The main idea of this quote includes a repeated idea throughout Walden, that is, to live deliberately/with purpose. One of Thoreau’s key messages was to fill time with meaningful priorities, rather than the distractions of society’s commitment and pressures to work, none of which are worthwhile. Another important detail to point out is his reference to the “marrow of life.” Thoreau is trying to convey his search for the central/key aspects of life in nature, as marrow itself is known to be a nutritious part in the center of a bone that contains much substance. These concepts can be connected to the learning value placed on nature in transcendentalism, rejecting formal establishments (books, teachers, etc).
We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us
Author: Henry David Thoreau
Title: Walden
Summary: This statement follows Thoreau’s passage about his opposition to modern technology, stating that it creates unnecessary complications that could be avoided if people returned to a simple life. He states that there is no need for the railroads to exist if people turn to transcendentalism and reject the commodities of modern society. He later goes on to detail that railroads are a source of wasted life and unjust sacrifice, for thousands of workers toiled away and died while constructing railroads, something that its riders often fail to consider
Analysis: This passage reflects the transcendentalist rejection of modern technology, for its philosophy places great emphasis on the simplification of life. If people simplify their lives in the way that Thoreau details, the railroads and other modern technology will not be necessary. This quote also condemns labor, which was obviously required to construct railroads “wasted” countless hours of people’s lives. Thousands of people died as a result of railroad construction, deaths that he deemed to be unnecessary and another example of how modern technology is corrupting society.
I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born
Author: HDT
Title: Walden
Summary: In this quote, Thoreau is lamenting about his lost childhood, stating that he wishes he still possessed childhood curiosity.
Analysis: This quote demonstrates the transcendentalist belief that children are wiser and more divine than adults. This belief stems from the fact that children are not yet bogged down by the demands of society and thus do not subscribe to them as heavily as adults do. Given that transcendentalists hated the modern societal structure/advancements, the mindset of children would seem wiser to them.
Creeds and schools in abeyance… I permit to speak at every hazard
Author: Walt Whitman
Title: “Song of Myself”
Summary: This quote, coming at the beginning of the poem, tells readers that Whitman will voice his personal opinions/perspectives regardless of commonly-accepted beliefs (creeds and schools)
Analysis: This quote represents the Transcendentalist distaste for formal education and greater emphasis on self-knowledge. Transcendentalists believed that there was more to learn from nature than from religion and school, something that he continually expresses in this poem. Essentially, he is saying that society and schools should be paused in our hierarchy of importance because we are not gaining as much from them as we think we are. Whitman intends to share his unconventional opinions, which were informed by nature rather than education, on several topics.
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he does.
Author: Walt Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: This passage is the beginning of Whitman’s inquiry about grass, or nature in general. While calling somebody a “child” was often used as an insult, Whitman recognizes that children possess a curiosity and sense of wisdom that most adults do not, as reflected by the simple reality that it was a child who questioned the identity of grass rather than an adult. Whitman recognizes that he is not any more knowledgeable about the identity of grass than the child, further asserting that he is not any better than a child
Analysis: This passage primarily reflects the transcendentalist belief that children are wiser/closer to the divine than adults, primarily due to their curiosity and a greater appreciation of nature, as they have not yet been corrupted by the constructs and demands of society. Adults, most of whom have bought into what society considers important (work, money, traditional education) would not have considered asking this question due to reduced curiosity and general disregard for nature. It also reflects the idea that nature is divine, for Whitman recognizes that grass is something that exists beyond his comprehension, later calling it a product of God.
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier
Author: Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: Whitman is stating that the reality of death is different than commonly-held beliefs, namely beliefs of hell as the afterlife. Whitman’s beliefs about death are unconventional, and, unlike most of society, he sees it as something “lucky,” or positive.
Analysis: This quote demonstrates the transcendentalist viewpoint of death. Transcendentalists, unlike many religious denominations, saw death as a return to the earth and a continuation of their ongoing relationship with the Earth. When you die, you live eternally because your physical building blocks survive. It also demonstrates a rejection of traditional religious beliefs, as death was a source of great fear within these denominations due to depictions of hell and the afterlife. Unlike Whitman, traditionally religious people would not see death as something “lucky”
The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer
Author: Walt Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: The entire passage explains the belief that humans themselves are divine. The line above this line states that he is divine inside and out and that he doesn’t need a religion or god to make himself holy.
Analysis: This quote demonstrates the Transcendentalist belief that all humans are divine. The “scent” of his armpits is a natural bodily function, so his statement that a natural bodily function is finer than prayer implies that everybody is naturally divine. Furthermore, Whitman demonstrates his distrust of formal religion, a hallmark Transcendentalist belief. In most religious denominations, people believed that only Jesus was divine and that people were intrinsically wicked.
A mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels
Author: Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: Whitman begins this section by placing value on the simple things in life, among these being animals such as ants and tree toads, as well as the value of simple tools rather than machinery. His comment on mice is the final statement he makes in this section as to the importance of nature and its creatures.
Analysis: The value placed on nature and its simple creations denounces major advancements and establishments that have come to be useful, placing a higher value on physical and tangible work. The descriptions of simple, natural details, in this case, mice, also relate to the value transcendentalists place on nature itself, deeming all things worthy of admiration even though they may seem ordinary.
Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and laughingly dash with your hair
Author: Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: Follows his message to younger recipient (“dear son”), in which he essentially tells him to go on his own way, traveling his own path in life. This leads to a statement of contrast, in which the recipient begins as being timid but develops into a brave individual.
Analysis: The specific word choice in the quote relates to the transcendental value placed on self-learning, as the statement explains that the boy is only encouraged to be bold, but that he himself is the one to embark on a new journey. The child is only given guidance to make this decision.
And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God….
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign’d by God’s name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe’er I go,
Others will punctually come for ever and ever
Author: Whitman
Title: Song of Myself
Summary: The first line of the quote is explaining that mankind should be curious about things that aren’t religion like nature because a key belief in transcendentalism is that the natural world is more divine than religion. This quote skips lines between the first and second line but after “And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God….” Whitman explains that he sees God in every object and every person around him. Many other transcendentalists bring up this belief that God is everywhere and in many cases it is unexplainable but Whitman claims that that is okay. Further in this quote, Whitman portrays the effect that religion has on the world and how many followers base their lives upon religion.
Analysis: Whitman states that mankind should not be curious about religion and that is because the best way to learn about the world is through nature and one should not learn about nature and divinity through religious teachings or writings such as the Bible. The line “for I know that wheresoe’er I go, others will punctually come for ever and ever” can be explained in two ways. One, it could mean that there will always be people who are followers of religion no matter what, or two, Whitman is also saying that no matter where he goes, God, or divinity, is everywhere.
