Authors
This author was touted as the "Father of Transcendentalism,"
Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?
Henry David Thoreau was notable for the composition of this famous essay, which he wrote while staying on a cabin along its namesake pond.
What is Walden?
"Her freckles were like little, tiny stars that illuminated her beautiful face."
What is a simile?
Most transcendentalists believed that this was the key to understanding a man's purpose and soul, seeing as it was the place that man originated.
What is nature?
Who is Henry David Thoreau?
This collection of poems that discussed the foreseen problems in the south included a poem titled "The Warning," which alluded to the story of Samson.
What is On Slavery?
"I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!"
What is a hyperbole?
In among his most famous work, Henry David Thoreau repeats this single words in sets of three several times, as it carries the primary message of his work.
What is "simplify?"
According to Henry David Thoreau, this is the highest number that a person needs to be able to count to... At least, according to his essay "Walden"
What is ten?
This transcendentalist was among the earliest of their kind and published a majority of his work with quatrains and couplets, often using personification to deliver his message... That is, when he wasn't shoveling horse manure.
Who is Nathaniel Hawthorne?
What is "Nature?"
"The grass whispered its secrets as the wind flowed between its blades. They were all flawed."
What is personification?
Walt Whitman was often criticized for these qualities, showing that America was still somewhat ingrained in Puritan culture.
What is romanticism/sensuality?
These are two groups that Transcendentalists claimed that they were trying to break away from.
Who are the Puritans?
What is the government?
Edgar Allen Poe particularly had disdain for this Transcendentalist who contributed to the genre of "Dark Romanticism." That's probably because while this poet advocated for slaves' rights, Poe did not.
Who is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?
In Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, he includes a single 52-part poem titled this... Because of the poem's volume, are we to believe it's a self-deprecating fat joke?
What is "Song of Myself."
"Woof"
Spelling Counts.
What is an onomatopoeia?
This is the Rhyme Scheme that most late transcendentalist authors utilized.
What is free-verse?
These are the two rhyme scheme styles that are commonly used in European poetry, but can also be found in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's writing.
What are sestains and octaves?
A poem with the following rhyme scheme & style would have likely been written by this famous author:
"
I love thy music, mellow bell,
I love thine iron chime,
To life or death, to heaven or hell,
Which calls the sons of Time.
Thy voice upon the deep
The home-bound sea-boy hails,
It charms his cares to sleep,
It cheers him as he sails."
Who is Ralph Waldo Emerson?
Longfellow composes a piece titled this, which provides a metaphor for the union as an embodied version of Lady Liberty now living in squalor. At least it wasn't all bad!
What is "The Good Part, That Which Will Not Be Taken Away."
A phrase that, literally, seems to be absolutely gibberish. However, its connotation provides it meaning. For example, "in a pickle" or "raining cats and dogs."
What is an idiom?
Transcendentalism, as an American concept, naturally leads into this transformation of American society in the mid to late 1800s.
What is the Civil Rights Movement?
All transcendentalist authors that we discussed have these qualities in common:
They were all literate, white, and males.