The Importance Of Transcendentalism In Uncle Tom's Cabin

The literary time era known as Transcendentalism is a time era in literature where people began to think more individually as well as more philosophically. This era is believed to have lasted from the 1840’s to the 1860’s, however there was a later movement in the late 1800’s, this is referred to the New England Transcendentalism, in which Uncle Tom’s Cabin would be categorized. Although the Transcendentalist era was more based off of literature in the 1800’s, there are some modern authors, Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, who have shown Transcendentalist thought in their works. The people who were known as Transcendentalist thought that each person had a bond between themselves and the universe. There were beliefs of each

The novel is based around the life of Tom, who was a middle-aged slave and his strong spiritual beliefs. This novel was a driving force towards the Civil War. The spiritual theme of this novel has led many literary historians to associate this with the Transcendentalist literary movement. However, other scholars view the novel as part of the Realist movement due to the actuality of events. Tom’s unwavering belief in the existence of his individual situation and the novel’s theme of antislavery are the only reasons why this novel is believed to be an example of Transcendentalism. There is more reason to believe that Uncle Tom’s Cabin fits under the literary time era of Realism since it was the driving force towards the Civil War. Ten years after the novel was published and during the early stages of the Civil War, President Lincoln, upon meeting Stowe, greeted her by saying “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war”(http://www.ushistory.org/us/28d.asp). This quote is one that has left its mark on history and exemplifies the importance of this novel. A person who believes in Transcendentalism could fully support this novel based upon the self-reliant theme and strong independent development by the protagonist. The greatness of this novel is that it transcends different thoughts and can be

I have chosen The Soul Selects Her Own Society, The Earth Has Many Keys, If Nature Smile/Mother Must, and The Goodwill of a Flower, as examples of Transcendental writing. Dickinson’s poetry searches for the individual theme as well as a nature based view of the world. Her writings does not take an active Transcendental role but more of an indirect route. Unlike Emerson, who lead the movement, and Stowe who took that charge, Dickinson stayed cleared of controversy but whose theme of self analysis and self discipline, can only be called Transcendentalism. Emily Dickinson had a unique style of writing. Unlike most poets of her time, she rarely used identical rhyme, she compressed many of her word, and she used dictation to emphasize. Dickinson show symbolism in her poetry especially in her poem The Earth Has Many Keys she states, “The earth has many keys, Where melody is not…” (Stanza 1). This symbolizes that there are beauties in this world where there may not be a lot of knowledge of and that is what makes this Earth so beautiful. Although Dickinson may have secluded herself from the entire world she has become one of the most well known poets in American literature