The American Renaissance

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne were two authors who made a great impact on Early American literature.  Ralph Waldo Emerson said that Transcendentalism is “a new American culture, freed from European bondage, but also for a rebirth of an intellectual and artistic life that was inextricably bound up with the life of the spirit” (Hampson, 2011, para 2). Transcendentalists were at the forefront of the blossoming of our Nation’s ideas of literature, painting, poetry, architecture, music, and sculpture.  This was the era of the American Renaissance (Hampson, 2011).    

Some of Emerson’s literary works includes:  Nature, The Dial, The Poet, Representative Man, and The Conduct of Life, and Self-Reliance.  Self-Reliance is an essay Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote stressing readers must “trust their ideas and take them in new and even different directions” (Baym et al., p. 492, para. 2).  Ralph Waldo Emerson starts his essay by defining what a genius is.  He said, “to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, that is a genius” (Baym et al., p. 533, para. 1).  In order to tap into individualism a person must listen to his/her intuition and believe that it is true instead of dismissing it and following that of another.  The lesson here is to “trust thyself” (Baym et al., p. 534, para. 1).  To trust thyself means to trust that what he/she intuitive knows is the right way.  

                Hawthorne is continuously celebrated for his “perceptive renderings of New England history, his psychological acuity, and his vivid characterizations especially of female characters” (Baym et al., 2008, p. 589, para. 1).  Hawthorne demonstrates to his readers that interpretation is a form of self-expression by requiring that the reader do his/her own interpretation of the reading (Baym et al., 2008).  Some of Hawthorne’s literary works includes:  The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun.  Other literary works in Hawthorne’s collection that have retained their popularity and have become a source of inspiration for many authors are Young Goodman Brown, The Birth Mark, Ethan Brand’s (Merriman, 2007). 

                In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne tells a story of a young Puritan man whose faith is shaken when he leaves behind his wife of only three months to keep a meeting he has in the woods with a stranger and later loses his faith (Baym et al., p. 610).  Hawthorne uses words that have double meanings such as, companion and faith in the story drawing the reader’s attention through vivid descriptions, and word suggestions.  It allows the readers to use their imagination to interpret the hidden meaning of his stories.  Hawthorne’s writing draw on the ideas of religion, faith, imagination which were among some of the major topics explored during the American Renaissance.  Through their works, these authors largely contributed to shaping the American Renaissance.

References:

Baym, N., Franklin, W., Gura, P.F., Klinkowitz, J., Krupat, A., Levine, R.S., et al. (2008). The  Norton  anthology American literature. (Shorter 7th ed., Vol. 1). New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

Hampson, T. (2011). The American renaissance & transcendentalism. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html

Merriman, C.D. (2007). Nathanial Hawthorne. The Literature Network. Retrieved from   http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/