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EMERSON AND TRANSCENDENTALISM
The challenge of defining Transcendentalism has been compared to “grasping
mercury: both are fluid and hard to pin down” (Myerson, Transcendentalism, xxv). The
explanations and definitions offered by its proponents were seldom in complete
agreement, their personal intuitions and perspectives affecting which elements of the
philosophy and movement were most important to them. American Transcendentalists
were influenced by many streams of thought. They embraced ideas articulated by
Emmanuel Kant on the division between the ideal and the physical world and on the
existence of types of knowledge that are innate or “a priori.” They rejected the empiricist
philosopher John Locke’s concept that individuals are born blank slates, or tabula rasa,
upon which observations and sense impressions inscribe knowledge. The
Transcendentalists were also drawn to ideas voiced by the German philosopher Friedrich
Schelling, who defined nature as a spiritual entity, an outward manifestation of the
divine. The works of English Romantics were also important to the Transcendentalists,
especially the poetry of William Wordsworth and the critical writings of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge.
Developments that occurred in American culture also affected the responses of
the Transcendentalists. Most began as members of the Unitarian Church, which had
broken away from the Calvinist orthodoxy that had shaped New England. The Puritans
and later Calvinists had preached a stern religious code based upon concepts of human
depravity or sinfulness, dependence on the grace of God for salvation, and election, by
which only those randomly chosen by God would be saved. Those who broke away to
form Unitarianism rejected the idea of God as embodied in a trinity and asserted that
Jesus was not divine, but an exemplary man. They argued for a more liberal theology in
which an individual’s life conduct had an effect on salvation and believed that humanity
was inherently good. They believed that individual conscience, rather than church
doctrine and dogma, was a sound guide to belief and action. Many welcomed the
principle put forth by William Ellery Channing, a major voice in Unitarianism, that
divine elements existed within human beings, that humans bore what he termed a likeness
to God. Those who eventually broke from Unitarianism felt that it too began to place
form and doctrine above the liberation of the individual soul. Emerson, especially,
accused his former church of engaging in false prayer and upholding outworn creeds.
In their efforts to define a philosophy and spirituality that would encourage what
they saw as the full development of human beings, the Transcendentalists focused on
certain principles. They began to conceptualize the divine in non-personified terms,
referring to an “over-soul,” a force or energy that pervaded all of creation, even though
some continued to use the term God in their writings. They also emphasized a particular
form of individualism, based on the role of intuition and the process of self-cultivation,
that they believed would foster the potential for creativity and self-improvement in all
humankind. Accepting the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau’s assertion that human
beings are innately good and are corrupted by society, some Transcendentalists believed
that if individuals cultivated the good within themselves, they could resist the negative
influences of society. In many of his writings, Emerson encouraged his readers to
embrace nonconformity, to act upon their own insights rather than accept the dictates of
their social environment. Their belief in the value of self-cultivation also affected how
the Transcendentalists viewed education. They believed education was a life long
process that should encourage thinking and promote self-expression, rejecting the
common practice of rote memorization that accepted the value of received knowledge. In
addition to experimental schools, many Transcendentalists, including Emerson, saw the
lecture circuit as an opportunity to promote education and life-long learning.
EMERSON’S ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES
In his addresses and essays, Emerson articulates many of the ideas that emerge
from his philosophical inquiries. Influenced by his Transcendentalist beliefs, he
expresses in many of his essays the possibilities for liberation from the weight of the past,
for the fuller realization of human potential. When composing his essays, Emerson drew
on material from his journals and his letters as well as from the public lectures he had
delivered. At times within the essays he seems to leap from one point of his argument to
the next, but this is intentional, for he wants the reader (or listener) to engage in the
thought process, to work out the connections that Emerson implies, but does not spell out.
For Emerson this thought process was more important than the written product, although
he took great care in shaping his essays. Emerson was always concerned with what he
called “Man Thinking,” the active engagement of the mind in the act of discovery and
realization. While Emerson’s essays inspire a degree of optimism about the human
condition, some of his critics felt that he failed to deal adequately with the problem of
evil. Others saw a certain coldness in Emerson’s philosophy, a lack of charitable feeling
toward those less fortunate than he in their life circumstances. More recent critics have
called into question Emerson’s analysis and rejection of his social and economic world,
seeing in his writings representations of middle class values and aspirations.
“The American Scholar”
Sometimes referred to as America’s intellectual Declaration of Independence,
“The American Scholar” was delivered by Emerson as an address to the Phi Beta Kappa
Society at Harvard in 1837. As he considers the process of intellectual activity, Emerson
encourages his audience to break with the past, to turn away from the influence of
Europe, to trust their own insights and to engage in self-cultivation. He also turns a
critical eye toward what he sees as America’s lack of dedication to arts and letters,
rebuking the “sluggard intellect of this continent” (Essays and Lectures 53). He
reprimands the scholar who is content to repeat others’ thoughts rather than devoting his
energies to coming to know his own. He also paints a bleak picture of the human
condition in a society in which individuals have been trapped by routine and materialism
so that they are objectified into things.
Emerson argues, however, that this bleak situation does not have to prevail, that
individuals, especially those engaged with the life of the mind, can break free of these
social influences. Emerson considers three main factors that work upon the individual’s
capacity to be a thinker: nature, books, and action. He credits nature with being the
mirror of the soul, allowing those who study nature to perceive the underlying
connections that reveal the order of both mind and matter. He claims that “study nature”
and “know thyself” are one in the same maxim (Essays and Lectures 56). Emerson then
considers the role of books, claiming that each age must write its own. He does not
disparage books in and of themselves, but he quarrels with the way books tend to be used.
He feels that readers tend to view books as sacred rather than the thought process that led
to their creation. In this way, people slip into the habit of worshipping the past and its
ideas, allowing the past to limit what can be thought and created in the present. Instead,
Emerson argues that readers must use books as inspiration for coming to know their own
thoughts, then must express those thoughts through their own acts of creation. He also
calls upon the individual to engage with the world, to take advantage of what can be
learned through experience, even though the meaning of particular experiences may not
be apparent until some time in the future.
Once he establishes this pattern of the proper education of the scholar, he turns to
the issue of the scholar’s duties. In this section of his address, Emerson emphasizes a
principle that runs throughout his writings, the concept of self-trust. He admits that there
are many barriers that keep individuals from accepting and acting on this principle. The
temptation to conform to popular opinion or to the ideas of the past keeps individuals
from discovering what is true for themselves and for their age. He argues that what one
discovers is true for the self is in some way true for all. It is in discovering this truth and
expressing it so that others may grasp it that the scholar performs the highest duty. In this
section of the address, Emerson draws upon a gendered definition of the scholar, seeing
this role tied to masculinity. He claims that the scholar should reject the notion that “like
children and women, his is a protected class,” that instead the scholar must be “manlike”
in standing up to ignorance and the fear it instigates. At the time he delivered this
address, the members of Phi Beta Kappa who were his audience were all men. In linking
the work of the scholar to manliness, however, Emerson also the nineteenth-century
concept of separate spheres for men and women to argue for the scholar’s place in the
public arena. According to Emerson, the scholar can transform his society by awakening
individuals to an awareness of a higher good than the material wealth to which most
aspire.
The last portion of his address looks specifically at the role of the scholar in
America and expresses some of the ideas that reflect Emerson’s own democratic
aesthetic. He celebrates the fact that literature in his day has found value in “the near, the
low, the common” (Essays and Lectures 68), for in coming to see the “spiritual cause”
present in the everyday, the writer discovers “but one design unites and animates the
farthest pinnacle and the lowest trench” (Essays and Lectures 69). In addition to
articulating this sense of equality between the highest and the lowest, Emerson also
praises the focus on the individual and the power that lies within a single person. He
encourages his audience to reject “the courtly muses of Europe” which by implication are
associated with aristocracy and hierarchy. Instead, he wishes them to embrace “the spirit
of the American freeman” and to claim the creative power that will allow the individual
“to yield that peculiar fruit which each man was created to bear” (Essays and Lectures
71).
“Self-Reliance”
In his essay “Self-Reliance,” Emerson continues to explore some of the principles
he articulated in “The American Scholar,” especially the importance of self-trust and of
non-conformity. This essay focuses on two interrelated concepts which Emerson treats in
some detail, the value of self-cultivation and the resulting possibilities for self-realization.
In this essay, he also refers more extensively to the idea of genius, the unique intellectual
and creative gifts within a single individual that generate new ideas and new forms of
artistic expression. This idea, linked to that of originality, was an important aspect of the
Romantic interest in the individual. For Emerson, it was evidence of the presence of the
divine within the human, confirmed by the individual’s ability to engage in creative acts.
Emerson begins with the idea of an inner light, that intuitive sense that allows an
individual to perceive truths. He claims that most individuals ignore this potential within
themselves, for they do not trust their own insights and have become dependent upon the
ideas and insights of others. But he cautions that “imitation is suicide,” that to live by
another’s views and habits is to deny, and in effect, kill the self (Essays and Lectures
259). He then states “that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of
nourishing corn can come to [the individual] but through his toil bestowed on that plot of
ground which is given to him to till” (Essays and Lectures 259). This metaphor
comparing the nurturing of the inner self to farming suggests that self-cultivation is work
that requires an investment of energy and resources. By engaging in self-cultivation and
acquiring self-knowledge, the individual reaps the benefit of discovering his or her own
originality or genius. Thus he or she can respond to Emerson’s dictum “Trust thyself”
(Essays and Lectures 260).
Urging his readers to live in the present moment, Emerson also encourages them
to be nonconformists. He argues that an individual must respond to his or her own inner
wisdom and not simply accept what society claims is right, good, or true. He explains
that everything must be questioned and examined to determine which precepts and
principles are worth accepting and which are merely the baggage of the past. To conform
to tradition and social expectations dissipates the vital energy that should be invested in
self-cultivation. Emerson warns, however, that acting according one’s own insights is
not easy, that “for nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure” (Essays and
Lectures 264), because the nonconformist threatens the security of those who live by
external dictates. He cautions as well against placing too much value on consistency, for
the processes of self-cultivation is dynamic and brings about change.
According to Emerson, self-reliance “works a revolution” in the relationships and
actions in which an individual engages (Essays and Lectures 275). He claims that the
relationship with the divine changes, for when one is self-reliant and recognizes the
presence of the divine within the self, then prayer becomes an act of relationship and not
of begging. He also suggests that all action that is taken in light of self-knowledge
becomes a form of prayer because it celebrates the connection between the divine, nature,
and the individual. A self-reliant individual is content at home and sees around him- or
herself a world of meaning, so that travel no longer serves as a means of obtaining culture
or of escaping the boredom that plagues modern individuals. Likewise, a self-reliant
individual does not need to imitate others, to copy the manners or styles of other cultures.
To Emerson, self-reliance will free American artists and writers to express new and truly
American thoughts and ideals. Because he believes that the individual’s inner self is the
source of change, Emerson also rejects reform movements, for he sees them as working
upon individuals from outside, so that they may bring about superficial alterations, but
not lasting improvements.
Throughout the essay, Emerson enumerates the faults that arise from a lack of
self-reliance, from the slavish imitation of others to timidity in the conduct of life. As in
“The American Scholar,” he draws upon gendered ideas of manhood that include courage
and fortitude to inspire his readers to claim their true identities and live by the promptings
of their inner selves. He rejects conventional attitudes toward morality and virtue, but
argues that the person who seeks the truth will live by a natural morality that recognizes
the good. He also urges his readers to reject the materialism of the age, to measure
themselves and others by their character and not by what they own. Emerson suggests
that the individual who knows the self will have a kind of “living property” (Essays and
Lectures 281) that spares him or her from the vagaries of economic life and the transitory
nature of things. In many instances he echoes attitudes held by his Puritan forebears, but
turns them toward a new purpose, for he encourages his readers to let their actions show
forth their inner beliefs and to live in the world, but to resist its temptations that lead one
away from true being.
“The Poet”
Published in Essays: Second Series, “The Poet” extends Emerson’s principles
from “Self-Reliance” to explore how they affect the work of creativity. He sees the poet
as a figure who is immersed in the search for spiritual truth and who expresses that truth
in the poetry he or she composes. As he does in many essays, Emerson begins by
pointing out what is wrong, in this case with the state of poetry and the work of poets.
He claims that too much emphasis is placed on taste and form, leading to superficial
verse that fails to express ideas or truths. Emerson believes that when viewed the right
way, nature and the material world reveal meaning which the poet perceives and
articulates, making the argument or premise of a poem more important than its shape or
design. His ideas about poetry and the role of the poet opened the way for innovations in
American verse and influenced the work of many American writers, among them Walt
Whitman and Emily Dickinson.
To Emerson, the poet functions as a representative figure who discovers truth and
then reveals it to others who do not see as deeply or as clearly as the poet, but who are
receptive to the poet’s vision. The poet serves as an interpreter who recognizes through
his or her own experiences the universalities that apply to all. The poet also perceives
beauty to a greater degree than the average person and finds beauty present in things that
are often regarded as vulgar or low. Emerson argues that “thought makes everything fit
for use,” freeing the poet to explore and incorporate those experiences of life and images
that have been “excluded from polite conversation” (Essays and Lectures 454). In order
for the poet to do this, he or she must possess a purity of soul as well as genius and be
self-reliant enough to use them to uncover the truths that reveal the interconnectedness of
all things. Thus the true poet follows the principles of Transcendentalism. When the
poet expresses the truths that he or she perceives, the poet becomes a liberator who frees
others to seek spiritual heights.
In Nature, Emerson discussed the way nature and language are interrelated, that
“words are signs of natural facts” and that “particular natural facts are symbols of
particular spiritual facts” (Essays and Lectures 20). He asserts that to “read” nature
rightly and deeply is to read truth. Fascinated by the ways in which symbols convey
meaning, Emerson returns to this concept in “The Poet,” highlighting the way that all
individuals make use of symbols. The poet, however, grasps the implications in symbols
that ordinary individuals ignore. He or she responds to the insights generated by the
imagination, using what Emerson calls a “very high sort of seeing” that allows the poet to
recognize these implications. The poet, according to Emerson, becomes one with the
natural world, drawing upon a power of mind that is separate from the intellect or
consciousness through which the energy of the universe makes itself knowable. Emerson
considers the suggestive power of language, how words function as symbols, and how the
poet can use language to reveal the order that pervades the natural world. He calls the
poet “Namer, or Language-maker” crediting poets with having given us all the words we
use, and claims that words themselves contain “pictures” that affirm the order the poet
reveals.
Emerson laments that he does not find poets who will sing of the present and of
the meaning of daily life active in his own day. He proclaims America a poem,
influencing the later assertions of Walt Whitman, and calls for poets who will convey the
meaning of America with originality and courage. He again charges poets to turn away
from tradition and even the customs and views of their contemporaries in order to be
receptive to the muse, which they will only discover in solitude. He admits that the call
to the poet is a demanding one, but that the rewards will be great, for the poet will
possess the whole world and see beauty in all that exists.