Americas Transcendental Voice :: Essays Papers

Americas Transcendental VoiceRalph Waldo Emerson was one of the true fathers of transcendentalism in America. He was said to be the establishing member of the smallest church. The congregation included solo himself, and his church waited on the world to guarantee his views as the truth. Emersons beliefs were greatly influenced by friends he met in Europe and the ro piecetic movement of the time. Transcendentalists of the time did non believe in miracles, they thought everything had a common sense answer. They believed that the headspring was not just a blank slate to be alter only with what we can perceive through our senses, but something which was capable of learning and imagination. Emerson believed that God along with great peace and serenity could be found in nature. This essay will trace how Emersons transcendental beliefs argon reflected in personality. This essay will also follow Emersions appreciation of nature, his transcendental quest to find truths that wer e beyond the reach of mans limited senses. In his first chapter entitled disposition Emerson writes To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his house as from society.(615) This reflects his feelings towards society and how it must be left behind to rightfully find God. Later in this chapter he marvels over how God Had do the atmosphere in such a way that we can see the rest of the universe, Gods almighty handiwork. Emerson ponders just what the future generations of masses will still appreciate the city of stars God has provided. In Nature Emerson also expresses his experience and admiration for the poet when he writes how a woodcutter sees a shoetree as a stick of timber where the poet sees it for what it is, a tree. Also in this first chapter Emerson expresses his transcendental belief that children are closer to God when he writes, The sun illuminates only the eye of a man, but shines into the eye and the affectionateness of a child.(616). From this first chapter we can tell that Emerson had an almost insatiable love of nature, he believed that god was all around us, in our fields, our forests, and our rivers. The second chapter of Nature is entitled Commodity. In Commodity Emerson is ranking all the advantages which our senses owe to nature.