Even though people listen to music just to hear the melody, music is a way to express certain feelings and think about what the song means to someone personally. 20th century pop artists including Dido, Louis Armstrong, and Garth Brooks reveal transcendentalist values of the 19th century Literary Movement through self-reliance, deliberate living, and importance of nature.
“My Life” written by Dido explains how her life should only include her and no one else. She uses self-reliance to show how she wants to live her life on her own and not rely on her peers. She continuously uses the words “it’s my life” to describe what she wants to have in her life. Self-reliance is expressed through this song; Dido stays determined to live her life the
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In his song “What a Wonderful World” recorded in 1967, Armstrong looks out into nature and tells us what he sees. “I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” Louis Armstrong is observing the outside world, using the importance of nature to define what he understands nature is, he is telling the listeners that it, the creation of God, is wonderful. . Importance of nature is a transcendentalist value in which transcendentalists believe that God is the same thing as nature. “At other times watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new arrival; or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall, that I might catch something” (Thoreau 767). Thoreau suggests that people understand and “catch something” when they look into nature. Transcendentalists think that being close to nature can also bring us closer to God himself. “The transcendentalists were not reactionary or opposed to the modernization of the world; they were, however, concerned that such modernization could lead to alienat ion. Nature provided a way to keep humans in touch with their souls and with their spiritual foundations.” (Milne 844.) Transcendentalists thought that nature was a way to connect with themselves; they were worried that the modernization of the world would lead to isolation. Ira Mark Milne claims that transcendentalists were not aware of …show more content…
His song “We Shall Be Free” refers to transcendentalism, in his lyrics “When this world’s big enough for all different views” he is stating that everyone has different views of the world and everyone should be free to express those opinions. Brooks is using the transcendental value of deliberate living to give details about what he is singing. His only source to life is being free. Deliberate living is living with only the essential facts of life and learning what you need to learn later on. Henry David Thoreau writes “to know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge. When one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to his understanding, I foresee that all men will at length establish their lives on that basis.” Thoreau tells his readers that if we know what we need to know and if we don’t know what we don’t need to know, then we are sure of everything we
“Everyman, I will go with thee and by thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side,” said Randolf Hayes while talking about Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s pieces of literature is The American Scholar. This connects to Jon Krakuaer’s novel, Into the Wild. All of these pieces connect because they all show transcendentalism.
In this essay, I will compare the philosophies of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism through the writings of Thoreau and Emerson vs. Melville. In Thoreau’s excerpt of “Walden”, he tested the transcendentalist philosophy through experience. Emerson’s transcendental writing style is displayed in “Nature”. In Melville’s excerpt of Moby Dick, he exhibits anti-transcendentalism in his work.
Transcendentalism is based on the belief that institutions in the society corrupt an individual’s purity. Transcendentalists believe that people are at their best when they are truly independent and self-reliant. They also believe that from independence and self-reliance, a true community is formed. Even though Transcendentalism is not recognized, it still exists in the modern society. Though not clearly outspoken as in Emerson and Thoreau’s times, many people in today’s society still have transcendental beliefs. Transcendental ideals are found in songs, films, books and other works such as media and advertisements. One example is the song “Get up, Stand up,” by Bob Marley, it is found to be influenced and has inspiration of transcendental elements such as Solitude (individuality), self-reliance, non-conformism (anti-institution), anti-materialism, nature and spirituality.
Artists write about what they know; they pull feelings from their heart and their songs relay what the artists’ emotions, whether it be of their hometown, their high school crush, or their experiences. Many artists that came to fame during the twentieth century have a fair share of experiences they share with us in the form of their songs. The twentieth century is comprised of the institution of slavery and its effects, war, gender norms, discrimination based on nationality, sex, race, etc., and countless events that sparked protests and uproars in the United States. Music at this time was a phenomenon, and artists could use it to their advantage. Artists used their music to spread awareness about their cause, influence their listeners, and
The Transcendentalist ideas that come from philosophers, artists, and religious thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson play a role in shaping the way people think and behave in modern society. The novel Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer and the film based off of this book are about Chris McCandless's separation from his habitual life. This story demonstrates transcendental ideas and the impacts they have on both individuals and society as a whole. He pondered questions such as how world hunger exists and why people are so obsessed with material objects. Chris went from just graduating college, constantly surrounded by people to being completely alone in Alaska. He did not agree with the acquisitive society that we live in and he wanted an escape from his toxic family life.
If one were to look back into the world’s history, one would find that an important and consistent element is the world of music. Music has presented itself in various forms throughout its spread and through our identification of its magical realm, people have been fortunate enough to come across a means of relation. Whether it is blues and reggae or rap and pop rock, there is music out there for everyone. Music can serve as a stabilizer for some, a relaxant to others, and to many a form of inspiration.
Before I started cheering, both of my parents never knew how much goes into being a cheerleader. Though soccer was the sport I grew up playing, I ended up quitting to try out for cheerleading in seventh grade. I made the squad that year and I immediately became attached to cheerleading, though my parents did not know how to react exactly. Of course they were happy for me since it was something that I wanted to do, but it was not soccer. My dad did not consider cheerleading to be a sport in the beginning, claiming that “there is no team quality to cheering.” It was safe to say that he did not necessarily like that I quit soccer to take up cheering since he did not consider cheerleading to be a real sport. I have learned that going against tradition and conformity is difficult, but is worth it in the end.
Ralph Waldo Emerson might have been Truman a standout amongst our incredible geniuses despite the fact that he. Might have a short history. In any case likewise Emerson once said himself. “Great geniuses have the most brief biographies.” Emerson might have been likewise a significant. Pioneers for “the philosophical development for Transcendentalism”. Transcendentalism might have been faith for a higher actuality over that found ordinary an aggregation. That a mankind 's camwood accomplish. Anecdotal data Emerson might have been destined around May 25, 1803 done Boston, Massachusetts. As much adore for music, something she imparts to her father passed on at he might have been youthful and as much mothball. Might have been exited with him and as much four different siblings. Toward those
Modern day transcendentalists are not easily found anymore in society. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what a transcendentalist is. By being your own self, following your own standards and being yourself, you become transcendental. By looking at the Robertsons’ way of life, they would make a tremendous example of modern day transcendentalists. Their religion, love of nature, and individualism create a transcendental lifestyle.
We are first going to break down the importance of nature. Transcendentalists believed in a monistic universe, or one in which God is immanent in nature. The creation is an emanation of the creator; although a distinct entity, God is permanently and directly present in all things. This thought can be seen in Emerson’s “Nature” on line seven and thirty, “Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign… / Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.” Here Emerson metaphorically compares nature to the “plantations of God” in which the spirit of God is always present.
Many people have theories and philosophies about life in general. There have been hundreds of thousands of books published by many different people on the ideas of people in the past and the present. Transcendentalism falls in amongst all of these ideas. There have been articles, essays, poems, and even books written about this subject. Transcendentalism has effected many people since the philosophy was first introduced. The idea was complex and hard to grasp for many commoners and therefore it was understood by few people, and some would think that the idea was not understood at all and that was part of the idea. Henry David Thoreau once stated about himself, “I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations” (Reuben 1).
“The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy.”(Emerson 196). These two lines written by Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplify the whole movement of transcendentalist writers and what they believed in. Though to the writers, transcendentalism was a fight for a belief, unknown to them they could have been fighting for the betterment of human health. The transcendentalist writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson have directly affected the health of modern society through the idea of transcendental meditation. Through modern science, scientists have linked increases in health among individuals through the use of transcendental meditation.
The movement of transcendentalism was a powerful movement that began to emerge in American in the nineteenth century. These powerful movements made readers question, challenge, and examine what they were accustomed too. Transcendentalism was the belief that what the person can see, touch, feel, taste, or comprehend goes beyond those senses. People were to knowledge their thoughts through instinct and imagination not through logic or the senses; they were to trust themselves to be their own authority on what is right. When people were able to receive these ideas not as a religious beliefs, but as a way of understanding life then they were consider a transcendentalist. Transcendentalism was one of the many literary writing styles used during
According to the New York Times, teenagers listen to an average of 2.5 hours of music in a singular day. The messages coming through in each song may vary between drug/alcohol reference or transcendentalism. No matter where there is music, there is a lesson to be learned through ideas that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau created. Though transcendentalism is a relatively foreign word to most, it can be defined by using five i's: individualism, inspiration, intuition, idealism and imagination which are displayed on all platforms of music today. The different music genres may vary between music from the late 1990's and children's movies today.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is the best representation of transcendentalism because it shows self-reliance, conformity versus nonconformity, and the importance of nature. In the poem, the speaker makes a choice to continue their walk through the forest on the path that is barely disturbed. The speaker’s choice showed the reader that the speaker had free will and trust in their decision, which plays into the theme of self-reliance in transcendentalism. The poem also touches on the definitions of conformity and nonconformity when the speaker described the path of nonconformity as if, “no step had trodden black.” The author did not describe the path of conformity in the poem in detail, but the lack of description perfectly tied into the