Name Oscar Gutierrez

Period 2nd

Transcendentalism Web Quest

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as
soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think about the quotation listed above while you answer the following questions in this
webquest.
Step one: Gain a basic understanding of Transcendentalism
1. What authors are associated with this movement?
Henry David Threau
Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Herman Meville
Emily Dickinson

2. What century did this movement take place in?

The early 19th century
3. The Transcendentalists stood at the heart of The American Renaissance-- the flowering of
our nation's thought in Literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, and music in
the period roughly designated from 1835-1880.

4. What area of the U.S. did this movement begin in?

New England and around Boston
5. Emerson attempted to define the philosophy in simple terms as "What is popularly called
Transcendentalism among us, is Idealism; Idealism as it appears in 1842." But it is much
larger and more complex than that. How is it described further along in this paragraph?
The belief is further explained as the individual soul is identical to the soul of the
world and through work and art one could transcend his limits and truly understand
beauty and truth.
6. What was the Transcendentalist club?
A group of transcendentalist thinkers who were unsatisfied with the current state of
American thought

7. How/why/where did it develop?

This club was formed when Henry Hedge, George Ripley and Waldo Emerson met to
plan a periodic gathering of likeminded people. It was created to protest the intellectual
climate of looking at the past rather than the present. It began at the Willards Hotel in
Cambridge.
8. How difficult was it to become a member of this club?
Not very a member was those who attended

9. Who called the first-ever meeting of this club?

Hedge, Ripley and Emerson.

Step two: Explore several figures from the Transcendentalist movement.

Write 5 to 6 sentences in regards to what you learned about each author. Take your time reading
each of the web pages before writing your summary; we will be reading literature from these
four authors in class.
10. Ralph Waldo Emerson :
Emerson was born in 1803 as the middle child. He was most influenced personally by his
Aunt Mary Emerson who was intellectual, eccentric and death-obsessed. Emerson would
go on to study at Harvard Divinity School and become an ordained minister of the
Second Church of Boston. After his wifes death though he became troubled by
theological doctrine and would travel across Europe to return as a lecturer. After much
more personal tragedy he would go on to give over 1500 public lectures throughout his
40 year carrer.

11. Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817, he grew up with his older brother John who
helped pay for him to attend Harvard. He was heavily influenced by the paper Nature
and in a sense never stopped drawing inspiration from it. Tragically Henrys older brother
John cut himself shaving and died of lockjaw in Henrys arms. Henry would go on the
write A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and would support himself
through surveying and making pencils. Henry would continue writing, especially against
the Mexican War and the extension of slavery. He would die in 1862 at age 44 to
Tuberculosis.

Step 3: Transcendental Art

12.

Your mission is to find a piece of artwork (painting/photography/etc) that

represents Transcendentalism in some way. Copy/paste the artwork into this document
and explain in at least 2 sentences how this art represents Transcendentalism.

This painting represents Transcendentalism as it portrays the grand nature of nature with the
majestic could and flowing river in the background. This painting also shows the dark side of
Transcendentalism with the tipped over tree and stormy weather in the foreground potential
symbolizing the ugliness of the human spirit.