Transcendentalism and
Individualism
California Content Standard 8.6.7
By the end of the lesson, I will be able to…
Identify common themes in American art as well as
transcendentalism and individualism (e.g., writings about and by
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville,
Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow)
As evidenced by…
Taking notes and a quiz.
Essential Question
• What was transcendentalism?
Transcendentalism
• Some New England writers and philosophers were inspired by
the idea of transcendentalism.
• They believed that people could transcend, or rise above,
material things.
• They believed that people should depend on their own insights
rather than outside authorities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay called “Self-Reliance.”
• In this essay he said that Americans relied too much on
institutions.
• Instead, they should follow their personal beliefs and use their
judgment.
Henry David Thoreau
• Henry David Thoreau also believed in self-reliance.
• He summarized many of his ideas in his book Walden, which
was published in 1854.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
• One of the best-known pieces of American literature is The
Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
• It describes Puritan life in the 1600s.
Herman Melville
• Herman Melville wrote tales of the sea, such as Moby Dick
and Billy Budd.
• Many people consider Moby Dick to be one the greatest
American novels ever written.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the best known poet of the
mid-1800s.
• He wrote popular story poems like Hiawatha.
Walt Whitman
• Walt Whitman first published Leaves of Grass in 1855.
• He praised American individualism and democracy in his
simple, unrhymed poetry.
Louisa May Alcott
• Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist who wrote the
famed novel Little Women and its sequels.
• Her revised letters written as a Civil War nurse were published
as Hospital Sketches.