My Smore Flyer
Transcentalism
An idealistic and philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all natural and humanity and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures
Biggest Idea to Come Out of the Utopian Movement
Transcentalism
Brook Farm Community
was a utopian experiment in communal living in the US in the 1840's
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Example of Writing : "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetua presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile."
Agent of Change : Became the leading voice of intellectual culture in the US
Edgar Allan Poe
Example of Writing : The City in the Sea.
Agent of Change : Poe was mostly recognized as a literary critic
Washington Irving
Example of Writing : The Adventures of Captain Booneville
Agent of Change : Largely credited as the first American Man of Letters, and the first to earn his living by his pen.