Frederic Henry Hedge and the failure of transcendentalism The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Myerson, Joel. 1975. Frederic Henry Hedge and the failure of transcendentalism. Harvard Library Bulletin XXIII (4), October 1975: 396-410. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37364267 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Frederic Henry Hedge and the Failure of T ra11scendentalis111 Joel 1liyerso·n ~•HE L0KG-RANGE EFFECTS of Nc,v Eng]and Transccndcntal- is1n havc he en n1 any and , v eH-do c.:u r11en tcd. Nu u1 e rou s studies attest to the influence on litcran1re, philosophy, and religion oy the rnoven1cnt itself~ and by such major figures a~ En1crson~ Thoreau, and Theodore Parker. Ho,Yevcr1 detailed srudie,s have not been n1adcof the in1111cdiatcconsequences of the Tran.i..cen- dental rcbc11ion ~nd ho\v it aff ecccd less ,veH-hn{n,rn n1c1ubers of the group41 Ilct,vccn 1836, ,vhen Etnerson's Nature ,v~s published and the Transcendental Club ,vas founded, and 1844, ,vhen the Dial ceased public~tion, the people kno,vn gs the 1~ranstendcntalists ,vere relatively unified :ind ~h]e to exert great in~ uencc. Of this group, one of the n1ost respected "ras Frederic I]enry I-ledge~,vho had proposed his O\Vll journal for the T ransccndental phi]osophy in 1 8 3 5, gnd ,v ho ,vas pri- 1nari]Jr responsible for the f onnation of the T ransccndcnral CJuh, ,vhich ,vas named ''l1edgc's ClnhJ' h~causc it origina11ymet 1vhenever he \Vasin Boston.~.)r ct by 1844 I-ledge, one of the n1ost pro1nising of the ~r·ranscendent~list n1i11istcrs,l1ad bccon1c the 111ostdis~ppointing - and -arnong the n1ost disappointed .. \~lhy H·edgc fcH f.ro1n fnvor ,vith 1 The bC'5tdiscussions of this period -are jn '''illiam R. Hutchison, Tbc Trnn:n-'Cn- dentaU:rt Afi11htcrs (Ne,v H~nTen: Yale Unh·crsity Press, 1959)~ and Ch:ules Cro\ve, George Riplcj•= Tranrccndentnlist aud lJtopitrll Sociahst (Athens: Univccsjty of Georgia Press, I 967 ), pp. 97~1 i 3. .2 Hiographical infomrntion js f ron1 0. ,:v.1 .. ong, Frederic Henry Hedge: A Car- 'NWJH;liuu1 Scbolar (Porrbnd, J\l:iinc: So nth ,.._•orth-Ar1thuensen Press, r940), and l\1:ilnha Ilona Tuon1j, HDr. Fr.~dcric I-Ienry I-ledge: I-l1s Life and \Yorks to the End of His Ilangor P~storr-ttc/' i\·f.A~ thc~isj UniYers,ty of i\1aine 1 1935. i\1rs. Il.ar- ba rft Spa Idin g ha~ \Terr g racio u slr pc nnittcrl n1c free access to the 1arge colJec rjon of Poor and Hedge Farnily Paptr~ which she ha5'; her generosity is largely rcs:ponsablc for thi& artjclc, I a.n1 also grc1t~ful to the fullowir1g for pern1issaon to quote fron1 inanu5c.tjpts in their possession: Ando~.1cr-I-farv,1rd '"rheological Library, Ilangor Historic:~l Society ( deposit collcctfon at the Bangor Public Lihrary ), Iloston Puhllc I ,iu1-ary, Houghton I ril)rary of Harv~rd Univc(sity~ l\•1assachusctts Historjc:11 So- cic:ty, and Schlesinger Library of Raddiffe CoJlcgc. 396 Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XXIII, Number 4 (October 1975) Frederic Henry l{edgel Fnilure of T-ra11rceudeuta!is?11397 the T ranscendcntalist.s., fl nd ,vhy the 1noverncnt itself lost his -approv~.1, is a ,Talu2b]ecase study in rhc history of both American letters and A Lll er ic an i]bcra lisn1. I-ledge ,vas born at c~n1hridgc on 1 2 Dcccn1ber 1 805. I--Iisfather, Levi I-ledge, bccat11c professor at 1--Inrvardand gave his ta]cntcd son the hest education nvail:thle. He ,vas tutored h)r the briHinnt young George Bancroft and p:1sse<lthe entrance cxatninations for 1-:lnrvard ,vhcn he ,vas t\vclve. J-Jo,vcver.,his f ~ther felt that Henry '\Vas too young to enter college and he ,vas sent ,vith Dancrof t in 181 8 to Gennany, \vhere he attended the gJ1unursia4Upon his return in 182 2 he ,vas given junior standing in the next year's class at 1-Iarvard. ~[here, I-ledge quickly bccan1c friends ,vith Horatio Greenough, E<l,vard En1crson, and George H..iplcy. I-Ic served both as vice-president and poet of the I-IastyJJudding (:lub., and ,vas elected class poet in his senior ye~r~ Ahhough he considered poetry nnd n1cdicine as possib1e careers, he f oUo,ved his f~thcrJs \Vjshcs nnd entered the I-Jarvard Divjnity· School in 182 5. After his gra<lu~tion in 182 8, he ,vas ordained minister at \\rest C~n1bridge. Hedge n1nrricd Lucy Poor, a girl from his con~ grcgation, in 1830 and they· had t,vo children by 1834. 1'1isJo,'e for Germany nnd his ]ocation kept Hedge frorn bccon1ing a quiet parish preacher ,vho rarely ]cft hon1c except for the yeRrly n1inisterjal conferences. As one of the fcv{ people ,vho at that tin1e had actually studied in G·ertnany, his conversation \Vas n1ucl1 jn dcn1and. I-Iis old friends ,vcrc near Canlhridgc and he quickly 111adtnc,v f ricnds ,vith the brighter 1-Iarvard students v.,-ho had arrived since his o,vn days rhcrcr FoHov{ing the puh]ication of his important and f avorab]e arric]c on Coleridge 2nd German philosophy in the l\1arch 18 3 3 C,hristinnE:t'fflHiner., he \Vas firmly cstab]ishcd in his position as a popular ~1nd,vantcd n1cmbcr of any conversational group. I-Icdge"'sarticle on Colcrjdgc \Vas, as Perry i\1iller has noted., ' 1the point at \vhich Transccndentalis1n \\~cnt over to the offcnsivc4" 8 Only a year before, George llip]cy h~d diplomatically suggested in the Cbristia11Exa1ui11er that the charges of nrnysticjsn1 and obscurity'" levelled against the Gcrn1an ,vritcrs ,vcrc . the result of their critics for ming opinions on the basis of '\vrctched trans1ations .. or f ro1n incoherent patches and portions of great syste1ns.,, -= Hedge ,vns 1nore Tbe Tranrcende11tttlhts: A1i Aut/Jology (C::l1nbridgc: 1-Jarv~rd University Press~ 1950)., p. 67. 4 HP1·ofcsso-r.Follcn's In~ugutal Discoursct XI (Janua.ry 1832), 374. Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XXIII, Number 4 (October 1975) H nrvard J_...ibrary Bull etiu pointed: Coleridge js obscure onl r tu those readers '\v ho have no depths ,vithin thc1nseives corresponding to his depths.'"' 6 Since those ,vho Jacked this depth controlled the major periodicals of the day, Hedge proposed in February 1 8 35 a nc"r journal '' devoted to a .spiritual philosophy, and mainly dependent upon translations~ to be conducted 1 by + • 1e3ders in th~t school of thought.'"' u To be called ' Tbe Transcendentalis, or T be Spiritual l11quirer'l Ji it ,vas to have an1ong its tditors Hedge, En1crson~-and Ripley.1 Other follo,vers of c;ern1an literature, jnc]uding 1\-1argaretFul1crt protniscd their aid,S -and the Ilcvcrcnd ':\'il1ian1 Eller.r Channing~,vho had lain a\vakc ,vjrh anticipa- tion aH night after hearing of the project, ,vas asked for his assistance by E111erson.!1) 7 ct in j\Jay r 83 5 Hedge left Cambridge to becornc che tninister to the Unitarian society at Bangor, Alaine, and the project coHapse<l.10 The mo-vc to Bangor ,vas not hastily conceived~ and \\ras 1nadc partially through the cfiort.s of 1-]cdgc~s old friend fron1 Divinity School days, En1crson. 11 In 183 3 the Bangor congregation had :tp- .:it'Colcridge's Liternry Cbarrttter," x1,r ( j\1arch 183 3), n 8. 0 \V. H. Channing 1s sraten1ent~ Octavius Brno-k~ Frnth;nghan1J Af e1nolr of lVil- linni Henry Cb ..111ni11g (Hoston: lioug1nun, i\"liffi tn, 1886) 1 p. 109. En1crsuJJ to Cadyk, 30 A pi:-jl l 83 5, T/_,e Corrt.•spo11deuceuf E·1uersou (md Car- l)·le, ed. Joseph Shirer (N C\V York~ Co!uruhi~ UniH:rsity P.n~ss~J 964 ) 1 p. 1:2 51 1'1arch., Bron:son A]cott1 uj ournrd fo[ l 835/3 p. I 04~ Houghton LJbrary. Fuller \\-Tot~ to volunteer help, although ,varnjng that she ,vas Hrnercl y 1Ger- 1 manico' and not 'tr~nscendentar ' ( 6 J\-1-archI 83 5, Hongl1ton Lihr:1.ry). a Eincrson to C41rlylct I z J\,fard1 18351 h'1ucrso11-Carlyle CorresJJondence.,p. J r 9; 1 i? April 1835 1 T/Jc Letters of Ralpb lValdo E111erson.,e{l. R:ilph L. Rusk (Nev..r ·York: ColurnuJa l}aivl~r~lty Pn:!ss1 1939) 1 I, 44 J. · 10 As a fin~ 1 :}ttempt to secure an ed Jtor for the proposed j our na l, Em en:on asked Carlyle to bcco111cthe head of the JlO\\'-transatlantic periodical, and even promised l1im a s~bricd position should he ;tccept tl1c offer, But Carlylcis reply, \vhiJc ,vmshing the unhorn journa] success 1 rnade it dear he ,vould not consider c:dlting it 1 ~n<l the pos~ibility of a Tran~ccnd~ntil journal ~pp~ariog pas~cd ·.:nvay ( 3u Aprjlj [ 3 ~·1ay 1835.. E1nersnn-Carlyle Corresf1011dence 1 pp. 125, 12g---130)+ u Hedge first bec::tmc acquainrcd \\'ich En1cr5:on in 1828 ,vhen they Ji\'ed jn Divjnity Hall together.