Ideals expressed in the works of Transcendentalist writers of the New England Renaissance
... know it by experience, and be able to give a true account in my next excursion” was the basis of all their writings. “To get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the whole world” was their goal behind all their writings. They did not use their power of writing in order to gain a transcendentalist experience, but rather to record them. Both Emerson and Thoreau chose to contact their true natural surroundings, and experience time alone in the “woods”. By being “in solitude”, it brought forth a conciseness that “all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence” . Mans views of nature being rightfully his, to do with what he wants, is harshly contrasted by Emerson, who feels that “Nature sais,-He is my creature” . Emerson felt that man, corrupted by society, can over power the fate of over looking his true meaning. Escaping from the wheel of society into “the woods, is perpetual youth”. By living in the woods, he found that fusing nature with soul, one can accomplish anything. Emerson felt that nature was an extension of five of his senses, where he could feel the tree moving in the wind as if it was his own body. He stressed the theme of “having intercourse with heaven and earth”, or interlacing your body and soul with nature. But, of all five senses, he stressed vision the most. Beauty can only be accomplished through the gate way of the eye, which is where most experiences are derived from. “The eye is the best of artists” , and has the power to display “the simple perception of natural forms” , which is where true beauty comes form. “Nature satisfies the soul purely by its loveliness” . By becoming “a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all.” Emerson clearly states in Nature, being in your natural surrounding, the wilderness, is the key to happiness. But fails to recognize that not all human's natural surroundings are the “woods”. Although he does admit that a true transcendentalist “does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both” , he still focuses on a transcendentalist being in tune with nature. Emerson feels that transcendentalism must come from experience in the wilderness, and then through intellect. David Thoreau also used “nature” for an escape from the wheel of society, where he “went into the woods” in order “to live deliberately”. The woods is where the soul and nature combine to be one. Thoreau ideas were the foundations of transcendentalism, where Emerson, and any other transcendentalist built off. Thoreau's works were more politically centered than of Emerson's, but followed the same fundamentals that Emerson held in mind.All of his power was drawn from “nature”, the nature of a true man, where h...