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Use Of Transcendentalism In Walt Whitman's Song Of Myself

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Whitman uses transcendentalist ideas throughout his collection “Song of Myself”. Often many times transcendentalism pertains to the idea of how it is dealt with having god in each living thing. “Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,” (Whitman #1). In this quote it is trying to show how the same generations are living in a certain area which can prove the point in how god is in each individual. Another big part of Whitman’s work is nature in which it's a majority of transcendentalism. “Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.” (Whitman # 6). This quote is explaining exactly how they are comparing grass to a human being. Which goes off of the idea in how they compare
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Dead Poets Society Transcendentalism is about life in which nature and the soul connect. In the movie Dead Poet Society, one of the characters who shows transcendentalism in Neil Perry. In the movie the students quoted poems and had their alone time with nature. They also relied on themselves and sought the spiritual side of things.

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Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist born on May 31, 1819. Whitman was influenced by transcendentalism, which was an idea emphasizing that to understand nature, one must analyze the reasoning or process behind it. Whitman had done many writings throughout his life that had been inspirations for other poets. For example, in the spring of 1855, Whitman published “Leaves of Grass”, which was a collection of twelve unnamed poems. This writing was enticed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who thought that the collection of poems were “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom.”

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In the 19th and 20th century transcendentalism was a new and exciting topic that caused tremendous controversy. In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless was a man with a very unique character. In more detailed words Chris McCandless was a transcendentalist. His actions and moods played a big part in his life, from beginning to end. He was a transcendentalist because of his self-reliance, confidence and non-conformity.

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Is Transcendentalism a good or bad thing? Everyday in life people come across traits of transcendentalism and don 't even realize it, it can be as easy as looking at the trees or doing something else than what everyone else is doing. These are all examples of transcendentalism and people don 't even realize it. For example my family and I went to San Francisco and went to the Redwoods where respect for nature was so strong because I was amazed at how cool the trees were and how long they have been there.

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Holden Caulfield, in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is an ideal transcendental hero. Though the question here is to what extent is Holden a transcendental hero. Holden’s way of being can be hard to understand, he has those “soft” moments where he seeks for his sister for comfort, or his red hunting hat, but most of all, a baseball glove that belonged to his younger brother, Allie who passed away. Other time, it’s the complete opposite, he goes for cigarettes, or alcohol. Another way that helps him with his moments, is going out into nature and relaxing.

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In Emerson's views, people should “not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”(citation). Based on Emerson’s thoughts, people should not follow the crowd, but instead live their lives and leave their mark on the Earth. Emerson thoughts come from a philosophical movement of the nineteenth century called transcendentalism. Transcendentalism focuses on religious renewal, literary innovation, and social transformation (encyclopedia.com). Because of their belief that God exists in everyone and nature, and that knowledge comes from individual intuition, led to the highlight of individualism, self-reliance, and breaking free from traditions(citation).

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Christopher McCandless, a 29-year-old dreamer, went on the journey of a lifetime to involve himself with nature and being truly independent. He had lived a life of privilege, made amazing grades in school, and even went to school at Emory College, getting degrees in both history and anthropology. Even though he seemed to have everything good going for him, it’s not the life he wanted. McCandless decides after law school to go deep into the “wild”, with no map, no resources. All he kept was a small journal and camera in which he captured and recorded all of his experiences in, allowing people for the rest of time to read and learn about his journey in his book titled Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer.

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On a bright Sunday morning, accompanied by her mother and grandmother, a young girl lounges in the pew of a church when a missal catches her eye, and she begins to flip through the pages revealing the compilation of the religious texts. As this young girl grows older and presumably pursues a higher education, she will begin studying texts of the same complexity of those contained in the missal, which will challenge traditional beliefs and contrast religious literature with literature that happens to contain religious themes. When analyzing these pieces of work, the girl will propose many questions that readers prior may have considered at an earlier time. In American literature, specifically through the examples of "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman and Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin the Sun, religion, once thought of as a unification of all people, paradoxically acts as a source of the development of an identity, rebellion from a community, and a factor of discrimination.

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By doing this Whitman introduces himself and at the same time identifies with the reader. He also states that he should be celebrated not only by himself, but also by the reader because they are the same. He also gives off a feeling that his writing is true and good, we get the feeling he is one of us and at the same time a poet. This leads to comparing Whitman with a preacher or public speaker of some sort, he wishes to be

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Emerson, while endorsing a similar type of philosophy of nature, seems more stringent in his ideas of nature and less stringent in his actual communion with nature. Of course, this could be false. It might be his writing style and authoritative tone that seem to preach more than practice. Emerson gives few personal examples, so readers really don't know if he lives in the way that he suggests readers or listeners live. Emerson seems to focus a great deal on the ties between nature and the spirit.

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American currencies, specifically coins, have two sides: a head and a tail. The head and tail are different, yet they are still part of the same coin. Two American authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, represent two sides of the same coin: Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism swept through America as a new worldview in the 1900’s. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual and transcendental over the material, that deals with aspects of nature.

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Whereas Emerson believes the self strictly exists in your soul, Whitman believes that sense of self is found in both your soul and your body. Whitman sees your soul and body as a point of connection and that you cannot have one without the other and that the two are equal. For instance, Whitman says, “I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have said that that body is not more than the soul, And nothing, not God is greater to one than one’s-self is” (Whitman 51). Whitman is illustrating that the soul and the body are equal to one another and that one is not more important than the other.

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Throughout his poem, he constantly talks about the importance of coming together and merging. Whitman says, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Whitman 1). On the surface, this quote may appear to illustrate that Whitman thinks highly of himself, but it is more than this. The last part of this quote emphasizes that we are all connected and even though we are all individuals, we should not forget that we are connected to one another. Whitman also says, “Urge and urge and urge, Always the procreant urge of the world.

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This explains how he believed that the stars and the grass should be thought of as equal and man should show appreciation for grass as well. Moreover, Whitman implies that because the grass is so close in terms of touch, humans should enjoy it more since stars are completely out of reach. As it is evident that Whitman appreciates

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In this grand poem, Whitman glorifies the unity of all people and life. He embraces the geographical diversity as well as the diversity of culture, work, as well as sexuality or beliefs. Whitman’s influence sets American dreams of freedom, independence, and self-fulfillment, and changes them for larger spiritual meaning. Whitman appreciates hard work as well as being simple and non-egotistical. His major ideas are things such as soul, good health, as well as the love of nature.

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