Ralph Waldo EmersonEmily DickinsonHerman Melville

The American Renaissance

Ralph Waldo EmersonAmerican Philosopher, Essayist, and Poet

Transcendentalism Emerson, believed in all of the basic

tenets of transcendentalism, but his philosophy heavily relies on confidence in an individuals cognitive ability or intuition.

He deduced that faith was a greater force than reason, because an individual is more committed to an idea they believe in, rather than one they deduced.

Emerson said that confidence in your faith is gained through relying upon yourself entirely for perceiving reality.

The Muse?Ordinary

Life

Emily DickinsonAmerican Poet

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain-By Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum -

Kept beating - beating - till I thought

My mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race,

Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down -

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing - then –

(Dickenson, “I Felt a Funeral…,” 1983)

Solidarity

Death

Spiritual Awakening

Creative Expression

Interpretations

Herman Melville American Novelist, Short Story Writer, and Poet

“All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it” (Melville, 1851)

Moby-Dick Chapter 41 Pages 223-224

The Great Whale

Symbolism

There Is Greater Meaning To Everything

Interpretations

Why Was This Novel Important?

Ralph Waldo EmersonTranscendentalism Ordinary Greatness

Emily DickinsonPoetic Psychological StruggleCreative Poetry

Herman MelvilleFictional & Fact AllianceAlludes To Heavy Symbolism & Religion

In Conclusion

Dickinson, E. (1983). I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340) by Emily Dickinson | Poetry Foundation. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45706

American Experience: TV's most-watched history series. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/whaling-melville/

(2016, May 06). Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkdFMw0pmk&feature=youtu.be&t=8m27s

Emily Dickinson's Life. (2000, February). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dickinson/bio.htm

(2016, April 17). Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXqw-zl2Z0&feature=youtu.be&t=2m37s

Goodman, R. (2003, February 06). Transcendentalism. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/

Melville, H., Parker, H., & Hayford, H. (2002). Chapter 37: Sunset. Moby-Dick (pp. 223-224). New York: Norton.

Citations

[Spiritual Awakening]. (2014, February 20). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://lauramarietv.com/21-symptoms-of-spiritual-awakening/

[Painting]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/eortiz1384/1800s/(n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/eortiz1384/1800s/[Pressed Flowers]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from

http://thelane.com/style-guide/style-elements/stationery/pressed-flower-cards[Emily Dickinson]. (2013, January 17). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/emily-dickinson-the-amher_n_2490024.html[Ralph Waldo Emerson]. (2014, April). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from

http://www.harvardclassics365.com/2014_04_01_archive.html[Digital image]. (2015, December 09). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from

http://www.biography.com/people/herman-melville-9405239Barker, C. (2005). [Painting found in Visions Of Heaven And Hell]. Retrieved February 09, 2017,

from https://www.shakespeareandcobooks.com/products/visions-of-heaven-and-hell-by-clive-barker-inscribed-with-a-hand-written-sketch

De Loose, B. (n.d.). The Card Players[Painting]. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/360288038916104654/

Feathers[Painting]. (2015). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from http://nobilitygirls.weebly.com/daily-devotion/archives/09-2015

Kolinska, V. (2015). Two Coffins[Painting]. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from http://veganmisanthrope.tumblr.com/post/106938748043/detail-of-a-piece-inspired-by-against-mes-song

Moby Dick [Digital image]. (2012). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from http://www.10righedailibri.it/gallery/incipit/30-moby-dick-herman-Melville

Other Visual Sources