Chapter 4

An American Renaissance

From An Outline of American Literature by Peter B. High

America in 1830-40

“the frontier of American society” became materials for a literature about American life (p.41)

cities along the east coast – the older ideal of the nation was still very much alive

Boston, a city filled with intellectual excitement and activity

lectures were brought knowledge about culture and science

The New Spiritual Era young intellectuals of Boston dissatisfied with the old patriotis

m studied the Greek, German, and Indian philosophers, and want

ed to explore the inner life and feelings “the Transcendentalists” formed a movement of feelings and b

eliefs1. rejected conservative Puritanism and Unitarianism2. found truth through feelings and intuition3. Orestes Brownson defined the movement as “the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively . . . an order of knowledge transcending th

e senses”4. found God everywhere, in man and the nature

Definition of Puritanism and UnitarianismPuritanism The practices and doctrines of the Puritans. Scrupulous moral rigor, especially hostility to social pleasures and

indulgences

Unitarianism A Christian who is not a Trinitarian 上帝一位論 ( 否認三位一體說 ,認為神僅存在一位 ,承認個

人信仰自由或理性在宗教中的應用 )

Transcendentalism A literary and philosophical movement, associated with Ralph Wal

do Emerson and Margaret Fuller, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends t

he empirical and scientific and is knowable through man’s intuition

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

founded “Transcendental Club” and its magazine, The Dial (p.43)

the group divided into two: those interested in social reform and those in individuals

published “Nature” in 1836, claimed man’s relationship with nature transcends the idea of usefulness

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

the differences between “understanding” and “reason” (judging things according to the senses)

“When the eye of Reason opens . . . outlines

and surfaces become transparent and are no longer seen; causes and spirits are seen through them. The best moments of life are these delicious awakenings.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

gave a famous speech “The American Scholar” at Harvard in 1837, called for a new burst of Ameriacn creativity (p.44)

“scholar” referred to original thinker, such a man knows himself through intuition and the study of nature not of books.

Turned away Christianity, becomes a kind of “preacher”

Emerson’s famous essays: “Self-Reliance,” “Over-Soul,” “The Poet”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

From the poem: “Self-Reliance” (1841) “To believe in your own thought, to believe that what is true

for you in you private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius.”

From the essay: “The Over-Soul” (1841) “Over-Soul” is “that unity . . . Within which every man’s

particular being is contained and made one with all things.”

From the essay: “The Poet” (1844) The poet is as the “complete man.” The poet frees us from old

thoughts. A good poem helps us to “mount to paradise/By the stairway of surprise.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

lived in Emerson’s home (p.45) defined Transcendentalist movement as “Wisdom doe

s not inspect, it beholds” refused to pay tax and was put in jail in 1846, a protest

against the U.S. government’s acceptance of slavery in the South and its war with Mexico

wrote about this experience in his essay “Civial Disobedience,” a great influence on Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Matin Luther King

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

“As I stood considering the walls of solid stone . . . and the iron grating which strained the light, I could not help being struck with the foolishness of the institution which treated me as if I were flesh and bones, to be locked up . . . As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body.” (p.46)

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

lived alone in a hut on the north shore of Walden Pond from 1845-47

wrote Walden in 1854 1. rejects things such as money and possessions ordina

ry desire in life 2. search true wisdom and joyous lives through imple

things 3. to “live through the visible to the invisible, through

the temporal to the eternal” interested in science and the Abolitionist movement

in the 1850s

Walden

Thoreau's Cabin

Thoreau's Cabin While at Walden, Thoreau strove to reduce his needs and to work efficiently. "The

cost of a thing" says Thoreau, "is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."

Cost of Materials for Thoreau's House (from Walden) Board's: $8.03 1/2, mostly shanty boards Refuse shingles for roof and sides: $4.00 Laths: $1.25 Two second-hand windows with glass: $2.43 One thousand old brick: $4.00 Two casts of lime: $2.40. That was high. Hair: $0.31. More than I needed Mantle-tree iron: $0.15 Nails: $3.90 Hinges and screws: $0.14 Latch: $0.10 Chalk: $0.01 Transportation: $1.40. I carried a good part on my back.

In all: $28.12 1/2

Enemies of the Transcendentalists

Transcendentalists ignored the dark part of the human mind and world (p.48)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) Herman Melville (1819-1891) Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

“Celestial Railroad (1843), strong allegorical quality (p.49)

raised the question of the difficulty in dealing with doubt and sin in human life

the psychology of his characters, secret guilt, problem, pride, envy, or the desire for revenge

Fanshawe (1828), “Twice-Told Tales” (1837), “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “Wakefield” (1835), “Lady Eleanore’s Mantle” (1838)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Mad Scientist story -- “The Birthmark” (1843), “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844) – p.50

the problem of sin --“Young Goodman Brown” (1835), “Ethan Brand” (1851)

the Puritan Past – The Scarlet Letter (1850) – raises the question of whether Hester and her lover Dimmesdale were really sinful

The Scarlet Letter (1850)

In a Puritan colony in 17th century New England, Hestor Prynne scandalises the community when she falls pregnant and refuses to name the father. She is forcedto wear a scarlet letter A as a permanent reminder of her shame.

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

man lives in a world divided into two warring parts: good against evil, God against Satan, the head against the heart (p.51)

held a tragic view of life – the universe is working against human happiness and peace of mind

Moby Dick (1851) -- the symbol of white whale, Captain Ahab torn between his humanity and his desire to destroy the white whale

Melville’s famous short stories: “Bartleby the Scrivener,” “Benito Cereno,” “Billy Budd”

Mobby Dick

Ahab stands on the deck at sunset, talking to himself about the task ahead. He knows that to catch Moby Dick is a doomed endeavor. But does he complain? Whine? Give up? No, he spits in the face of the gods (p.53).

• "I will not say as schoolboys do to bullies—Take some one of your own size; don’t pommel me! No, ye’ve knocked me down, and I am up again; but ye have run and hidden. Come forth from behind your cotton bags! I have no long gun to reach ye. Come, Ahab’s compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents’ beds, unerringly I rush! Naught’s an obstacle, naught’s an angle to the iron way!" -- Captain Ahab, in Moby Dick Chap. 37 (Sunset)

• Ahab has set himself a course, and fixed it with iron rails that do not move. Nothing is an obstacle, nothing will swerve him. Though it means his death, and the death of his crew, he will pursue his course.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

a southerner, interested in psychology and the darker side of human nature (p.55)

his contribution to American Literature: short story, literary criticism, poetry

his method of writing “short story”:1. put his character into unusual situations2. carefully describe their feelings of terro

r or guilt3. “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Tell-

Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “Ligeia”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

creator of the modern detective story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Purloined Letter” (p.56)

Poe’s poetry, interest in sound rather than its content, poetry is for “pleasure, not truth” a good poem creates a feeling of gentle sadness

literary criticism – a key to develop a national literature for the young country

The Purloined Letter

Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his macabre short stories and poetry.  Unpredictable and mysterious his stories keep the reader in a state of constant suspense.  The Purloined Letter is the story of a letter addressed to the queen that has fallen into the wrong hands.  Completely perplexed the authorities turn to the clever narrator to solve this case of blackmail

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Two women are horribly murdered while occupying a fourth story room of a house on Rue Morgue. The room appears to be locked completely from the inside without any way for the killer to have exited. Dupin solves the mystery through a process of deduction. He discovers that the murders were committed by an orangutan that had escaped it's sailor owner and had come in through an apparently securely nailed window. "Murders in the Rue Morgue" is not only considered the first detective story but it also set standards for this genre. Poe creates the first of the hundreds to follow "locked-room mysteries."

First Publication: The Graham's Lady's First Publication: The Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine and Gentleman's Magazine Philadelphia,  April 1841Philadelphia,  April 1841