New England Transcendentalism学院：外国语学院班级：英日 092姓名：常司楠学号：090801045New England TranscendentalismIn 1836 a little book entitled Nature came out which made a tremendous impact on the intellectual l life of America. “The universe is composed of Nature and the Soul,” it says, “Sprit is present everywhere.” The wind of change was beginning blow. A whole new way of thinking began to exert its influence on the consciousness of man. Natures voice pushed American romanticism into a new phasenew England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism. It was the first American intellectual movement which exerted a tremendous influence on the consciousness of American people. As to what is the Transcendentalism, the answer is the idealism. However, in that time, some New Englanders not happy about the materialistic-orientated of their time, formed themselves into an informal club, the Transcendentalist Club, and met to discuss the matters of interest to the life of the nation as a whole. They express their view on the journal, Dial. The club with a membership of some thirty men and a couple of women included Emerson, Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and Margaret Fuller. There are 5 features of the New England Transcendentalism can be summarized as follows: first, the Transcendentalists placed emphasis on spirit, or the Over soul, as the most important thing in the universe. The over soul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part. It existed in nature and man alike and constituted the chief element of the universe. Now this, obviously, represented a new way of looking at the world. It was also apparently a reaction to the eighteen-century Newtonian concept of the universe: In the eighteen century it was apparently held that the world was made up of matter. It was also a reaction against the direction that a mechanized, capitalist America was taking, against the poplar tendency to get ahead in world affairs to the neglect of spiritual welfare. Secondly, the Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual. To them the individual was the most important element of society. His perfection, his self-culture and self-improvement should become the first concern of his life. This new notion of the individual and his importance represented, obviously, a new way of looking at man. It was a reaction against the Calvinist concept that man is totally depraved he is sinful and perseveres in sin hood, and can not hope to be saved except through the grace of the God. The industrialization of New England was turning men into nonhumans. The Transcendentalists saw the process in progress and, by trying to reassert the importance of the individual, emphasized the significance of men regaining their lost personality. Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. Nature was, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with Gods overwhelming presence. It was the garment of the Over soul. The Transcendentalists seemed to be saying was,” go back to nature, sink yourself back into its influence, and you will become spiritually whole again.” Whats more, the New Transcendentalism was the product of a combination of foreign influences and the American Puritan tradition. The source of it mainly listed in 3 aspects. At first, romantic idealism, as Transcendentalism has come to be called, can be said to have begun with the introduction of idealistic philosophy from Germany and France. Moreover, Transcendentalism like Emerson and Thoreau were indebted to Oriental mysticism as embodied in such Hindu works as Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita and to the doctrine and philosophy of the Chinese Confucius and Mencius. Besides, it also absorbs the philosophy more or less.At that time, there are two major figures we had to mention among the many writers. On one hand, it is the Ralph Waldo Emerson. On the other hand, is Henry David Thoreau. As romantic idealism, they put spirit first and matter second. It stressed the power of intuition. It also took the nature as symbol of sprit or God. It emphasized the significance of the individual and self-reliance. Whats more, it envisioned religion as an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul”.Emerson, as the spokesman of the New England Transcendentalism, writes a lot of work to explain his view in his mind. As for me, the most famous work of his was Nature, which is the beginning of the New England Transcendentalism. The book is regarded as manifesto of American Transcendentalism and the Bible of New England. The journal called the Dial explains their ideas. For a while ideas like Emersons were up in the air and regarded by some people as “crazy.” The epithet” “Transcendentalist” was rather derogatory when it first comes into circulation, meaning one whose feet did not touch ground. Although he left his ministry, Emerson neve