ipl-logo

Examples Of Transcendentalism In Walt Whitman's 'Song Of Myself'

842 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Walt whitmans transcendentalism

Gi Kim
Instructor Garnett
ENG 241
16 June 2015
Transcendentalism flourished and emerged effectively during the 1800s mainly with the help of Ralph Waldo Emerson and other writers, artists, and reformers. As other Transcendentalists accepted that “the individual was at the center of the universe” (Wiswall para 1), Emerson as well explicated his beliefs through writings. During 1820s and 1830s, only a certain number of people comprehended the idea of Transcendentalism because it was complex (“The Emergence of Transcendentalism” para 1). Transcendentalism influenced Walt Whitman greatly as Transcendentalists represented transcendentalism to society. Therefore, in “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman uses transcendental ideals to challenge Americans …show more content…

Transcendentalism developed mainly during 1820s to 1840s and as a protest to the liberal New England Congregationalists. Transcendentalists believed in inheriting goodness of both man and nature, and its definition is “The view that the basic truths of the universe lie beyond the knowledge we obtain from our senses, reason, logic, or laws of science. We learn these truths through our intuition, our ‘Divine Intellect’” (“Transcendentalism” para 1). However, transcendentalists criticized Harvard University for emphasizing intellectualism and Unitarian church teaching at Harvard Divinity School. Transcendentalists thought that formulating religion and political parties were depraving the purity of the individual (“Thoreau and Emerson” para 3), which caused disrespect toward other races, especially African Americans.
Walt Whitman discloses his aspect on the abolition of slavery through his life and poems (“Walt Whitman Biography” para 3). In 1850s, there was a law called Fugitive Slave Act. This law strengthened previous law which added penalties for helping slaves. The fine increased to $1000 and six months in jail, and runaway slaves were not allowed to testify on their own behalf (“Fugitive Slave Act”). Despise the Fugitive Slave Act, Whitman appear as a heroic character who helps a runaway …show more content…

Once a Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew it passes into other habitations… It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again. Nothing is dead;… and there they stand looking out of the window, sound and well, in some strange new disguise." As Whitman was influenced by Transcendentalism, he believed in reincarnation which idea is permanent existence. The individual “soul comes into incarnation (birth) and withdraws from incarnation (death), cyclically to gain experience and evolve in consciousness, each time as a new personality” (“Evolution in Consciousness: Karma and Reincarnation” para 6), therefore, through lines 1288-1297 Whitman keep on referring to death and how he is not afraid of death. He even says that he have died “thousand times before.” As a consequence of his belief, he was able to view the world optimistically.
Transcendentalism, the belief of Ralph Waldo Emerson changed Walt Whitman’s perspective of the world. By introducing himself as an omniscient narrator, Whitman criticizes contemporary society for depraving purity of one’s soul. Instead, society should know how disruption of balance could create chaotic situation such as inhumane act such as slavery and by acknowledging God

Show More
Related
137 Words | 1 Pages

The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalism is a book written by Barry Hankins in 2014. The main idea that the book reflects is that the Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalism reinforced Americans beliefs in the individual’s importance and support even as it helped to bring a sense of community to a highly nomadic masses. The Second Great Awakening movement transformed the American religion and society in a number of ways. While there was a large growth of the deism in New England. Church’s revolutionary fervor tended to alienate it from its constituency.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer, and Henry David Thoreau are some adventurous people that had Transcendentalism throughout their lives. In Krakauer’s book Into the Wild the reader can see that Chris McCandless relates to Henry David Thoreau’s excerpts from Walden by showing Transcendental beliefs. Both of the mean show that they are simple, seek individualism, and love the flow of nature. The way Chris McCandless attempts to live his life in Krakauer’s book Into the Wild is just like the way Henry David Thoreau describes a true Transcendentalist. One of the first transcendental beliefs that Chris McCandless seeks is a simple life.

Read More
689 Words | 3 Pages

(4) Mr. Keating (Robin Williams) tells his students to call him "O Captain, My Captain'" which was written by Walt Whitman who was a transcendentalist. The action of telling his students to call him "O Captain, My Captain" is a self reliant move that clearly expressed in poems made by Walt Whitman. (5) Throughout the movie, there are plenty of cases where the characters expressed acts of transcendentalism. The characters disobey the rules in order to reach their goals.

Read More
1264 Words | 6 Pages

The Transcendentalists' dissatisfaction with their society was focused on policies and actions of the United States government. The Transcendentalists opposed the treatment of Native Americans, the war with Mexico, and the continuing and expanding practice of slavery. Transcendentalists urged that each person find, in Emerson's words, “an original relation to the universe” Transcendentalists the best way to experience “intuitive insights” was to return to God’s direct creation: nature. They also believed in independent thought, civil disobedience, and

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout his long journey across the country, Chris McCandless proves to be a true transcendentalist through the essence of the philosophy. Chris’ individuality should

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

“Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist” (Emerson). McCandless defied society by, living in the wild and rarely cared about possessions. Chris McCandless is a true transcendentalist because he existed off the land in Alaska, the west coast, Mexico and he did not want to have any else but happiness in life; he found this through his experiences in wilderness. In Emerson’s Self-Reliance it states, “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of ever on its members.”

Read More
710 Words | 3 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are two well known transcendentalist authors who significantly

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

The transcendentalists thought that individuality and self-reliance was true. For example Emerson says in his essay from self-reliance to “speak your latent conviction and it shall be the universal sense”. This means that you need to stop holding what you are holding back from saying and just say what you want to say. Theses song help represent that.

Read More
1652 Words | 7 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman emphasize the importance of living true to yourself and developing complete self-acceptance. To live a genuine life and completely accept who you are, you must understand your identity and your sense of self. In Self-Reliance, Emerson explains that your identity and your sense of self are spiritual. Whitman argues, in Song of Myself, that your identity and sense of self are based on both your soul and your body. While both Emerson and Whitman allow for intimate connections and friendships, Emerson encourages people to have relationships with a select few, whereas Whitman encourages people to connect with everyone and anyone, due to their different views of self.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

Langston Hughes uses images of oppression to reveal a deeper truth about the way minorities have been treated in America. He uses his poems to bring into question some of Walt Whitman’s poems that indirectly state that all things are great, that all persons are one people in America, which Hughes claims is false because of all the racist views and oppression that people face from the people America. This oppression is then used to keep the minorities from Walt Whitman in his poem, “Song of Myself”, talks about the connection between all people, how we are family and are brothers and sisters who all share common bonds. He says, “ And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,/ And that all the men ever born are also my brothers,

Read More
1633 Words | 7 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman emphasize the importance of living true to yourself and developing complete self-acceptance. To live true to yourself and completely accept who you are, you must understand your identity and your sense of self. In Self-Reliance, Emerson explains that your identity and your sense of self is spiritual. Whitman argues, in Song of Myself, that your identity and sense of self is based on both your soul and your body. While both Emerson and Whitman allow for intimate connections and friendships, Emerson encourages people to have relationships with a select few, whereas Whitman encourages people to connect with everyone and anyone, due to their different views of self.

Read More
197 Words | 1 Pages

It is common for a person to admire the stars in the sky. Their brightness and arrangement is a fascinating sight, of course. On the other hand, people tend to forget or plainly ignore what is right under their feet. In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman focused on what he thought was truly important, details of the green grass. Whitman wrote, “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars” (663).

Read More
1375 Words | 6 Pages

Both philosophies were very similar to each other since the two movements were a reaction against the contemporary strict traditions, laws, and religious rules. They both placed a huge emphasis on the individual as well as inspiration from nature. In the following, I will discuss American Transcendentalism and Romanticism in relation to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay ‘The American Scholar’ and Walt Whitman’s poem ‘Song of Myself’. Emerson was an American poet, essayist and lecturer. He is known as one of the people who took a leading part in the Transcendentalist movement, including a champion of individualism.

Read More
1021 Words | 5 Pages

Scanning through his past several years, he returns to his mother’s death and analyzes her choice to seek a lover at the end of her life. While before he thought it was strange and even somewhat aggravating, he realizes now, being so close to death, that people will enter a desperate search for meaning when their time left is fleeting. But at the same time, he reasons potentially as a coping mechanism, there is no difference whether he dies by execution later that day or in 40 years because he will be dying all the same. Together, these two realizations, though somewhat contradictory, create his bridge to Existentialism. By establishing these two points, he can allow himself to, “open up to the gentle indifference of the world - finding it so much like himself”(122), and apply whatever meaning he wants to life in order to make it as rich and enjoyable as desired, rather than drifting along as a pitiful being waiting for some greater power to guide him along.

Read More
1125 Words | 5 Pages

Walter Whitman was transcendentalist who believed in individual freedom and democracy and it definitely affected his poetry which is mainly focused on the ideas of democracy, equality, and brotherhood. For instance, in the poem Song of Myself, Whitman puts an emphasis on equality of all men and women. To him, all individuals are equal and all professions are equally honorable. In his interpretation, Whitman states that the freedom which is offered by democracy is for all should include all people, and not renounce those of other races, whether any social standings. This essay will focus on the main ideas presented in Whitman 's vision of equality in democracy in his Song of Myself.

Read More

More about Examples Of Transcendentalism In Walt Whitman's 'Song Of Myself'

Related Topics

Open Document