Chapter Chapter 4 of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Transcendentalism.

A second phase of this quickening in the intellectual life of New England appears in the development of transcendentalism. Closely allied with the religious movement just described and including many prominent Unitarians within its circle, transcendentalism, nevertheless, was not Unitarianism. The latter was a religious movement; it grew into the liberal denominations of the present day. Transcendentalism designates a school of abstract thought, a philosophy general in its application to life and conduct. It was distinctly local in its development.

Origin and Significance.

This new school of abstract ideas arose among the intellectual leaders of Boston and Cambridge during the second and third decades of the century. The teaching of German and French philosophy, the influence of Goethe, of Coleridge, and Carlyle had a part in its origin. The transcendentalists were idealists. They opposed materialism in every form. They regarded matter as an appearance and thought as the reality. The old Platonic system, the doctrine of ideas, was practically the basis of their belief. They emphasized the necessity of the individual and the free expression of the individual mind. They chose to be led by the "inner light." "The highest revelation is that God is in every man," said Emerson; "I believe in this life. I believe it continues. As long as I am here, I plainly read my duties as writ with pencil of fire."¹ They thought and talked and wrote upon the truths which cannot be demonstrated, which lie beyond the sphere of the established, which transcend human experience and ordinary knowledge. They were deeply intent upon reform -- social, civil, and religious. They were philanthropic in purpose, and members of the group were often associated in schemes for the betterment of society, which usually proved Utopian dreams.

The Dial.

In July, 1840, a quarterly periodical was started by the transcendentalists, as the organ of their views. At first under the editorship of Margaret Fuller, a talented but visionary woman, whose name is prominently associated with the movement, and later under that of Emerson, The Dial ran its honorable course for about four years, when it was discontinued for lack of financial support. To this famous magazine, Emerson contributed essays and poems, while others of the coterie, Bronson Alcott, George Ripley, Theodore Parker, James Freeman Clarke, and Henry David Thoreau, were among its best-known writers. Carlyle's comment upon the early numbers of The Dial is probably suggestive of the general attitude of those outside the circle toward these enthusiastic idealists. "But it is all good and very good as a soul; wants only a body, which want means a great deal."¹ Many of the new views were far from clear and many hapless failures resulted from these Utopian experiments; at the same time some practical progress was made and through this campaign of debate, in more than one direction was built the road to reform.

Brook Farm.

In 1841, an ideal community (one of several such experiments) was established by some of these enthusiasts at Brook Farm in West Roxbury, nine miles from Boston. George Ripley was the promoter and leader of the movement. It attracted some whose names were to be well known in later days. The young George William Curtis was an interested member, and so was Charles A. Dana, afterward the distinguished editor of the New YorkSun. For a time, also, Nathaniel Hawthorne was a member of the colony; and, ten years later, utilized some phases of his experience in the Blithedale Romance. Emerson was interested and an occasional visitor, although not an active Brook Farmer himself. The experiment was not altogether a failure. There were difficulties all along, but for five years the community flourished, demonstrating the possibilities of a simple, rational method of living, until, in 1846, there came a disastrous fire, and soon afterward the farm was sold.