Transcendental Literature

• What did transcendentalists celebrate and respect?

  the natural world
• How did transcendentalists use their observations of nature?

  : They used their observations of nature to understand human behavior.
• What connection exists between nature and human behavior in transcendentalism?


  : The connection is closely related to God and the belief that the divine is present everywhere.
• How did transcendentalists believe individuals could reach a higher understanding of life?

  : By communing with nature and appreciating a higher power, allowing them to transcend everyday logic.
• What historical event contributed to the decline of transcendentalism in American literature?

  : The approach of the Civil War (1861-1865) contributed to the decline of transcendentalism.
• In what ways were transcendentalists influential in the civil rights movement of the twentieth century?

  : Many transcendentalists held pacifist and abolitionist views that influenced the civil rights movement.