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1、Lecture 4 New England Transcendentalism Emerson&ThoreauTranscendentalism a philosophic and literary movement that flourished in New England,particularly at Concord(c.1836-1860),as a reaction against:18th-century rationalism,the skeptical philosophy of Locke The confining religious orthodoxy of New E
2、ngland Calvinism(P 57)Transcendentalismromantic,idealistic,mystical,and individualistic belief eclectic Major features Emphasis on spiritThe importance of individualNature as symbolic of the Spirit or God The product of combination of Foreign influence:German idealism(Carlyle,Wordsworth,Coleridge)Fr
3、ench eclecticism Platonic doctrines Oriental mysticism American Puritan tradition:Edwardian notion of inward communication of the soul with God Benjamin Franklins notion of self-reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-82)“Nature(1836)Self-Reliance The Over-Soul(First Series)The American Scholar Ralph Wald
4、o Emerson influences:ThoreauWhitmanEmily DickinsonMelvilleRobert FrostWallace StevensEmersons Transcendentalist folly:Unqualified acceptance of life Cheerful optimismHenry David Thoreau(1817-62)Resistance to Civil Government,or Civil Disobedience(1849)Walden(1854)Reading Walden on more than one levelSelf-culture and human perfectibilityCriticism of modern civilizationMockery of peoples smug complacency