On the surface at least, there is a connection between these Transcendentalists and the hippies of the sixties who as Timothy Leary said, "Drop out and tune it." They have in common a rebellion against the culture they depend on. They will not accept to live on anything but an authentic level. Emerson describes the roots of their discontent,

 

                As to the general course of living, the daily employments of men, they cannot see much virtue in these, since they are parts

                of this vicious circle; and as no great ends are answered in the men, there is nothing noble in the arts by which they are

                 maintained. Nay they have made the experiment and found that from the liberal professions to the coarsest labour, and

                from the courtesies of the academy and the college to the conventions of the cotillion-room and the morning call, there is

                 a spirit  of cowardly compromise and seeming which intimates a frightful skepticism, a life without love, and an activity

                 without aim.

                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                -Arthur Patterson

 

            Both the Transcendentalists and the Beat Poets were seen as a form of rebel at their introduction to the literary world. They both attempted to shrug off the confines of conventionality and chose to march to their own beat. Their shared beliefs and attitudes are the inspiration for this course, as well as the chance to read some great literature. The emphasis of this semester will be not only on the literary works created by these two important, and often underrated, groups, but this will also focus on the social, philosophical, and religious movements that surrounded and inspired these artists. In addition, we will focus on the context in which these subgroups were placed, both at the time of their inception and today.

            The Transcendentalists emerged onto the literary scene as a far cry from the predecessors. Previous movements consisted of the Puritan, Age of Reason, and Romanticism eras, and in the 1840's a few artists decided these styles just weren't conforming to their ideals. Ralph Waldo Emerson admitted that the Transcendentalists were the "drop-outs" of the nineteenth century, at least in America. As one of the predominant members of this group, he had a pretty good perspective into the mentality of his counterparts. The Transcendentalists, as with the Beats, weren't happy with the way that was presented to them. They desired to overcome, or transcend, this by forming their own idealism. Of course, this isn't for everyone. As Emerson once pointed out, this excess of faith limits the recruits to the young. However, they persisted in altering out a section of America, if not changing, what they considered to be America's active intellectual life. This period lasted roughly twenty years, which may not sound like a great deal of time, particularly in comparison to some other periods. But this era was definitely one of the most revolutionary and memorable, and continued to live on as a great influence of many generations to come.

            One collection of students proscribing to their school of thought is the Beat Poets. The reign of the Beats also lasted quite a short time in comparison with other literary movements-from the late 1950's to the early 1960's. However, it has continued to influence later generations of writers and readers who can relate to the Beat's emphasis of individual freedom, spiritual liberation, and subcultural hipness. The Beats were known for not only their writing, but everything that moved and inspired them. They were heavily into anything that would transcend (thinking of the Transcendentalists?!?) traditional fifties culture. Some examples of what did inspire them were music (jazz), religion (Buddhism), and other authors (Walt Whitman). One way in which their inspirations collided with their writing was in their preference of music. The jazz they were partial to, known as bebop, became a backdrop to their poetry. In a sense, this became known as one of the first forms of multimedia.