ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller were among the principals of the movement. The Transcendentalists believed there is a divine spirit in nature and in every living soul. Through individualism and self-reliance human beings could reunite with God.

Detailed explanation-2: -Transcendentalists who had advanced social reforms that included efforts to increase rights for women, labor, and the indigent redirected their energies toward extinguishing the institution of slavery.

Detailed explanation-3: -Transcendentalists added to the spirit of reform by urging people to question society’s rules and institutions. Do not conform to others’ expectations, they said. If you want to find God–and your own true self–look to nature and the “God within."

Detailed explanation-4: -Transcendentalism is an American literary, philosophical, religious, and political movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Detailed explanation-5: -Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions-particularly organized religion and political parties-corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community can form.