| American Renaissance: Literary and Artistic Expressions (1837-1910) |
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Sections:- Literary Expressions: Emerson, Thoreau, and Fuller
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Henry David Thoreau
- Margarett Fuller
- Pragmatism: The Next Generation of Literary Expression: William James' Pragmatism (1907)
- Pragmatism: The Next Generation of Literary Expression: John Dewey's How We Think (1910)
- Artistic Expressions: The Hudson River School
- Thomas Cole
- Emerson and Asher B. Durand
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| Historical Context
The American Renaissance, from about 1830 until about 1880, was blossoming within the art world which saw many changes to the way American artists approached their crafts. This module is devoted to the study of the most prominent and influential artists of the time in the realm of painting and letters. An examination of their roles in history, as well as political implications of their fame in antebellum America will be explored.
The world of letters first began to go through the transition known as the American Renaissance with the growth of a movement known as Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism, an idea born out of a general discontent with the existing American culture, professes that the physical world need not be a burden to the properly educated person, rather one can spirtualy transcend the physical world. The philosophy pays great homage to nature, as well as the intuition of people. While the movement occurred throughout New England, it was largely centered in the town of Concord, Massachussetts, where the most famous writers of the time lived and worked.
Questions to Consider
1) In what ways did the writers of the American Renaissance reveal the sentiment of their time?
2) In what ways do writers influence public opinion today? Consider the influence of other literary figures throughout American history.
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Perhaps one of the best known authors to emerge from the Transcendentalist movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson, a Harvard educated writer, was concerned with the relationship of people to nature, as well as the relationship of people to government. A strong abolitionist, Emerson was rather outspoken when it came to his views on state-sponsored slavery. Attached Documents
Marking the beginning of the American Renaissance is Emerson's groundbreaking lecture entitled "The American Scholar". The lecture, with excerpts provided below, seems to call for an American culture removed from European influence. Originally delivered as a commentary on the American collegiate education system, "The American Scholar" became a sensation for its anti-government rhetoric.
Even more controversial were Emerson's views on politics. In 1844, Emerson gave a lecture entitled "Politics" in which he declares the need for less government, extolling the notion that the individual holds the power to enact change in government. Significant for his wide-reaching influence as a writer and an orator, Emerson's views on politics surely had far-reaching implications.
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Henry David Thoreau, a contemporary of Emerson, had a similar impact on America and was also a major contributor to the American Renaissance. Thoreau's dissatisfaction with government and politics is echoed throughout his work, particularly in the realm of slavery. Even more outspoken than his friend Emerson, Thoreau dedicated a large amount of his work to anti-slavery. Attached Documents
Perhaps his best known work, "Civil Disobedience", written in 1849 touches upon his distaste for slavery. The main theme of the work though is based on Thoreau's contention that one is not bound by unjust laws, rather one must disobey said laws in order to be a truly just person. Like Emerson, Thoreau places much emphasis on the individual and the individual's responsibility to stand up for their beliefs. "Civil Disobedience", with excerpts provided below, also describes a night Thoreau spent in jail in 1846. Imprisoned for refusing to pay a poll tax in protest over existing government policy, Thoreau began to develop his strong feelings about civil disobedience which ultimately culminated into an influential philosophy.
A strong abolitionist, Thoreau used his status as a public figure to spread his anti-slavery sentiment. Outraged by the arrest and deportation from Massachusetts of a runaway slave named Anthony Burns, Thoreau in July of 1854 delivered a lecture entitled "Slavery in Massachusetts". Sickened by the governor of Massachusetts compliance in the matter, Thoreau admonishes the institution of slavery, as well as the government that allowed its continued legality. As is evident from the provided documents, Thoreau's work had aesthetic, cultural, and political value.
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The American Renaissance should also be seen as a tool for the feminist movement in America. Margaret Fuller, and outspoken writer, poet, editor, orator, and abolitionist was one of the country's first feminists. Known for her close relationship with Emerson and Thoreau, Fuller shared their Transcendalist philosophy, as well as their political notions. Attached Documents
In 1845, Fuller published "Woman in the Nineteenth Century", a prolific work focusing on the plight of women. Note the typical transcendentalist emphasis on the individual. Provided among the excerpts from the work below is the indication that Fuller found the feminist cause to be synonymous with the anti-slavery cause.
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William James was born in New York City on January 11, 1842, to an affluent, cosmopolitan, and deeply religious family. His father Henry dabbled in theology, doted on his five children, was well connected to literary and philosophical luminaries of the day, and often took the family for extended stays in Europe. William James attended schools in the United States, England, France, Switzerland, and Germany, and was also privately tutored; became familiar with the major museums and galleries in every city the family visited; acquired fluency in five languages, met, listened to, and talked to such frequenters of the James household as Thoreau, Emerson, Greeley, Hawthorne, Carlyle, Tennyson, and J. S. Mill; and through his father's influence became widely read and well versed in philosophy. As James began his second year in medical school, he was offered another chance to test his interest in becoming a naturalist: Agassiz was recruiting volunteers to join him on an expedition to Brazil to collect specimens. The trip would cost James some six hundred dollars, but the expense, he decided, would be worth it. "W.J.," he said to himself, "in this excursion you will learn to know yourself and your resources somewhat more intimately than you do now, and will come back with your character considerably evolved and established." His family agreed—at the very least, James would be participating in research with one of the greatest living naturalists—and his father and Aunt Kate came up with the necessry funds to make the trip possible.
In June (1869), when at last he earned his degree (MD from Harvard), James became a member of what he acknowledge was "an important profession." But the achievement had little impact on the volatility of his emotional life. He was left, he said, with "a good deal of intellectual hunger" that he did not know how to satisfy. Still, he believed that he had not found a way to reconcile his essential nature with his contribution to humanity. No academic field could easily contain James's interests. He had switched from teaching physiology to psychology and, in 1879, he shifted to philosophy.
Attached Documents
Just as he is acknowledged as the father of American psychology, William James is also recognized as the father of American pragmatism, an idea that he credited to Charles Sanders Peirce but which, in James's hands, became one of the prevailing philosophical movements of the 20th century. It became also one of the most criticized, misinterpreted, and ill-used philosophical movements of the 20th century to the point where, in modern parlance, being "pragmatic" has become synonymous with being practical, expedient, and relativistic, each independent of moral and ethical ramifications.
Of course, that is not how James viewed or expounded pragmatism, which was for him more method than philosophy, a method for resolving philosophical disputes, for arriving at the meaning and truth of ideas. Originally expounded by Peirce in 1878 in an article entitled "How to Make Our Ideas Clear," the pragmatic method, as James came to define it, aimed to discover the truth of an idea by determining its agreement with reality, "be such realities concrete or abstract." Ideas, argued James, are ultimately functional. They do not possess innate or fixed qualities. Rather, "truth happens to an idea," and it happens when "we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify" it.
Questions to Consider
1) How does James reflect the writing of his predecessors?
2) How does James’ educational background differ from his predecessors? Is this apparent in his writing? Why or why not?
3) What do you think of James’ definition of pragmatism? Does it have practical applications? Give examples.
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John Dewey (1859-1952) was a leading proponent of the American school of thought known as "pragmatism," a view that rejected the dualistic epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment. On this view, inquiry should not be understood as consisting of a mind passively observing the world and drawing from this ideas that if true correspond to reality, but rather as a process which initiates with a check or obstacle to successful human action, proceeds to active manipulation of the environment to test hypotheses, and issues in a re-adaptation of organism to environment that allows once again for human action to proceed. With this view as his starting point, Dewey developed a broad body of work encompassing virtually all of the main areas of philosophical concern in his day. He also wrote extensively on social issues in such popular publications as the New Republic, thereby gaining a reputation as a leading social commentator of his time.
Attached Documents
In How We Think, Dewey introduces his classic five-step pattern of problem-solving methods. The focus is on the nature of knowledge and truth. Dewey’s unceasing attack on the classical, metaphysical philosophies arises out of his instrumental, not contemplative, view of thought. How We Think is essential for an understanding of Dewey’s essential point.
Questions to Consider
1) How does Dewey incorporate the idea of pragmatism into his definitions of the various types of thought?
2) Compare Dewey’s writing style to that of his predecessors.
3) Compare Dewey’s writing style to that of James. How are James’ and Dewey’s use of pragmatism similar? How do they differ?
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The American Renaissance saw not only the emergence of unique writing style, but also a new style of visual art, coined the Hudson River School. The period for this new style, often considered the first actual school of American art, was heavily influenced by the Transcendentalist philosophy which marked the American Renaissance in the world of letters. Seduced by the relationship of man and nature, the Hudson River School painters celebrated the enormous American wilderness at their disposal. Like their writing counterparts, the painters of the American Renaissance sought to distance themselves from European influence in an attempt to create an independent American artistic style.
Questions to Consider
1) In what ways did the transcendentalist literary movement mirror the Hudson River School art movement that marked the American Renaissance?
2) Did the Hudson River School art movement display a dissatisfaction with American policy? In what ways?
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Among one of the best known of the Hudson River School painters is Thomas Cole. Cole, a painter and a poet is known for his landscapes which depict the American wilderness, at times in contrast to civilization. A topic of concern to him, Cole often wrote of his distress over the development of the more beautiful areas of the Northeast, particularly the Catskill Mountains, a region in New York. Attached Documents
Provided below is one of Cole's best known paintings, The Oxbow. Painted in 1836, The Oxbow displays the contrast between the natural landscape and the impending development of civilization. Note the dark, ominous clouds, likely a symbol of Cole's distaste over development. Included as well is an essay written in January of 1836 for the Atlantic Monthly magazine by Cole entitled "Essay on American Scenery". In the essay, Cole distinguishes between Europe and America by stating the differences in the wildernesses of the two continents. It was these differences, the vast wilderness of America versus the cramped and over-populated land in Europe, that Cole felt should be celebrated in his art.
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The dissatisfaction with development was a theme shared by all of the Hudson River School artists. Ironically the landscapes painted by the artists became tourist attractions, which naturally led to development. Concerned with the inevitable giving way of the natural landscape to the expansion of civilization, artists of the era began to express themselves accordingly. Attached Documents
In an essay entitled "Thoughts on Art" written in January of 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds the artists of the time that development indeed must bow to nature, that nature itself is not subordinate to the needs of man. His words mirrored the attitudes of the Hudson River School artists, particularly Asher B. Durand, a contemporary and close friend of Thomas Cole. Durand's painting Kindred Spirits was to become the representative piece of the era. In the work, two men representing Durand and Cole, gaze intently over a vast forested valley. The scene is representative of the connection felt by the artist between man and nature. Surely appreciative and aware of the awesome power of nature, the men were mere subordinates to the wilderness.
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