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In examining American literature of the nineteenth century, I am surprised at the level of literary innovation that developed during this period of economic and social change. ... However, in the early part of the nineteenth century, American literature had just begun to evolve from its roots of European Romanticism (Reuben). ... Staunch nonconformists like Emerson and Thoreau sought to develop a uniquely American literature that celebrated individualism, nature, and originality. ...
In researching the literary style of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century, I have examined works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Emerson developed and defined the tenants of American Transcendentalism, Thoreau embraced these principles as a staunch naturalist, and Hawthorne applied them throughout his anti-Puritan themes. ...
Thoreau strongly expresses his belief that American literature should be wholly American, and not imitate literature of any other country. ... He envisions a rich future for American literature built on uniquely American stories. “Perchance, when, in the course of ages, American liberty has become a fiction of the past – as it is to some extent a fiction of the present – the poets of the world will be inspired by American mythology” (Thoreau 1751). ... The traditional Transcendentalists valued ideas, whereas Hawthorne based the plots of his stories on the conclusions of ideas (Cambridge History of Literature). ... In his stories, therefore, he was a philosophical experimenter, in whose method was no room for optimism nor for prepossessions of any kind; he had recourse to life in order to try out the efficacy or the consequences of Transcendental ideas, and if the result was hardly what he expected, he still pursued the hypothesis to the bitter end (Cambridge History of Literature). ...
In summary, Transcendentalism represented a major literary innovation in American literature, and attracted many of the most important writers of the nineteenth century.
Approximate Word count = 2698
Approximate Pages = 10.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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