Special Issue Sci.Int.(Lahore),31(4),121-125,2019 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 121 THE CONCEPT OF TRANSCENDENTALISM IN HENRY DAVID THOREAU'S WALDEN Wasan Ali Hasan*1 and Musaab Natiq Ibrahim*1 1 Al-Iraqia University, College of Education for Women, Department of English, Baghdad, Iraq. [email protected] , [email protected] (+96407723300315) For correspondence: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Abstact Henry David Thoreau (1817- 1862) is an American thinker, essayist and prose writer. He is considered a naturalist and transcendentalist philosopher. After graduating from Harvard University, Thoreau joined different professions in which he worked as a teacher in a private school, a land surveyor and an inventor in his father's pencil factory. Then, he gave up all these professions deciding to live his life according to his strict accurate principles. He managed to enjoy his simple life depending on a little money. Thoreau had been deeply influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), the father of American Transcendentalism. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate Thoreau's transcendental opinions and ideas in his book Walden which is regarded as the best representative and the definitive text of the transcendental movement. Keywords: transcendentalism, nature, spiritual, inner life, intuition, inspiration, simplicity and self-reliance. INTRODUCTION others. The transcendental movement is regarded as: The Concept of Transcendentalism in Thoreau's Walden A reaction against the 18th-century rationalism and a Walden or Life in the Woods (1854) is Thoreau's second manifestation of the general humanitarian trend of the 19th- book. It is one of the greatest works of American Literature. century thought. The movement was based on a fundamental It is based on Thoreau's experience at Walden Pond from the belief in the unity of the world and God. The soul of each 4th July, 1845 to the 6th September, 1847. It is the result of individual was thought to be identical with the world- a two years, two months and two days. It is a record of his life microcosm of the world itself. The doctrine of self-reliance at a small cabin in the woods near Walden Pond on a plot of and individualism developed through the belief in the land owned by his friend Emerson. It is considered a fine identification of the individual soul with God.3 autobiographical record [1]. In A Glossary of Literary Terms, M. H. Abrams and Walden can be read on two levels. The first level has a Geoffrey Galt Harpham define transcendentalism as a surface meaning. It is an account of Thoreau's simple life philosophical and literary movement which is, alone in a small hut in the woods. He describes the beautiful Neither a systematic nor a sharply definable philosophy, but nature with its plants, animals, birds and insects. He also rather an intellectual mode and emotional mood that was gives his description of the weather and the change of the expressed by diverse, and in some instances rather eccentric, seasons. One of the critics praises Thoreau's perfect way of voices… Among the counterviews that were affirmed by depicting the change of time saying: Transcendentalists, especially Emerson, were confidence in The basic structure of the book maybe most clearly the validity of a mode of knowledge that is grounded in understood by the fact that Thoreau, for convenience, feeling and intuition, and a consequent tendency to accept condenses his two years' experience at Walden into one, and what, to logical reasoning, might seem contradictions; an describes it beginning with Summer and proceeding Fall and ethics of individualism that stressed self-trust, self-reliance, Winter to Spring. The turning seasons thus define a process and self-sufficiency; a turn away from modern society, with of symbolic death and re-birth which, for Thoreau as for the its getting and spending, to the scenes and objects of natural romantics, represents the character of personal development worlds, which were regarded both as physical entities and as [2] correspondences to aspects of human spirit [4]. On the second level, Walden has very deep meanings due to Transcendentalism is a word which has been variously its being a completely transcendental work. Thoreau tries to " interpreted. Orestes Brownson, an early transcendentalist, live through the visible to the invisible, through the temporal defines it as "the recognition in man of the capacity of to the eternal."2 He thinks that people can attain their knowing truth intuitively…an order of knowledge happiness if they obey and follow the light within themselves. transcending the senses."5 In other words, the truth can be He rejects the materialistic things that people search in vain found through feeling and intuition rather than reason and for and prefers to look for true happiness and lead sincere logic. Thoreau provides his own interpretation claiming that joyous life. Thus, Walden is considered a guide book to the "wisdom does not inspect, it beholds."6 According to higher life. Emerson who is considered the father of American Thoreau is one of the main writers who belongs to the Transcendentalism and the founder of the transcendental club transcendental movement. As a matter of fact, in Concord, transcendentalism means the existence of a transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement divine world beyond and above the world of the senses. He which appears in Concord and Boston. It is apparent in the wants to clarify the idea that reality cannot be realized by intellectual and cultural life of New England from 1836 until reason but it can be felt by intuition [7]. before the Civil War. It is introduced by a group of writers The transcendental movement has its own features which including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, distinguish it from other literary movements. Initially, the Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jones Very and transcendental writers focus on the importance of nature. July-August Special Issue 122 ISSN 1013-5316;CODEN: SINTE 8 Sci.Int.(Lahore),31(4),121-125,2019 They believe in the importance of living closer to nature. For Walden especially in chapter IV 'The Sound' when he gives them, nature is their Bible in which everything in it; including his readers a beautiful image about his staying in a small neat the trees, flowers, birds, rivers…etc., has its own significant hut which is made of wood. He enjoys listening to the sounds meaning. They indicate that through the external beauty of of different animals and birds both at night and during the nature, man can be conscious of the spiritual beauty of the day. He also gets pleasure from listening to the sound of the world. Through this beauty, man can find himself. If man can church bell on Sundays. He mentions: live in close intimacy with nature far away from the My house was on the side of a hill, immediately on the edge materialistic aspects of society, he can enjoy the beauty of of the larger wood, in the midst of a young forest of pitch life peacefully. On the other hand, the transcendental writers pines and hickories, and half a dozen rods from the pond, to emphasize the importance of enjoying life with its simplicity. which a narrow footpath led down the hill. In my front yard For them, food, shelter and clothes are the main necessities of grew the strawberry, blackberry, and life-everlasting, life. Thus, poverty should not be the reason behind spoiling johnswort and golden-rod, shrub-oaks and sand-cherry, their life. blueberry and ground-nut. Near the end of May, the sand- They also show great interest in the individuals who are cherry, (Cerasus pumila,) adorned the sides of the path with considered part of the society and part of the natural world. its delicate flowers arranged in umbels cylindrically about its They think that the individuals should lead themselves short stems, which last, in the fall, weighed down with good depending on their own experiences. They should create new sized and handsome cherries, fell over in wreaths like rays on ways to improve their life without waiting for the society to every side [11]. create their lifestyles. Thus, they focus on the importance of From another point of view, Thoreau regards himself as a self-trust, self-reliance and self-sufficiency. part of nature. He does not feel lonely being away from The transcendental writers also emphasize the value of the society. On the contrary, he finds relief in this quiet place spiritual life in which man can get real knowledge through since he is in good intimacy with nature. For him, nature is feeling and intuition transcending the senses. "If man comes the best friend and the good companion. In his relationship to nature in a mood of 'wise passivity' and allows influences with nature, he feels the real meaning of friendship. In from nature to enter into his soul, he can see into 'the heart of chapter V 'Solitude', Thoreau refers to his close relationship things'."8 In this regard, the transcendentalists concentrate on with nature saying, " I go and come with a strange liberty in the oneness of God, Man and Nature. They believe that man nature, a part of herself" (W, 97). In addition to that, Thoreau is a part of nature. At the same time, God can be found sheds light on the significance of nature. He thinks that nature everywhere even in man and nature. Emerson stresses the is a preacher who teaches him everything about the world and prominence of this unity saying that "sea, earth, air, sounds, mankind. He realizes that nature is the best school since it silence, plant, quadruped, bird.