ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Anti-Transcendentalism was an opposition movement to the Transcendentalist. The Transcendentalist were writers who supported the beauty of Nature, the kindness of Humans and a distrust in government.

Detailed explanation-2: -As a group, the transcendentalists led the celebration of the American experiment as one of individualism and self-reliance. They took progressive stands on women’s rights, abolition, reform, and education. They criticized government, organized religion, laws, social institutions, and creeping industrialization.

Detailed explanation-3: -The American Romantic and Transcendental movements of the 19th century were a reaction against the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment’s emphasis on science and rationalism as ways of discovering truth.

Detailed explanation-4: -However, while the idea of Transcendentalism is great, there are many methods of execution in which it can not only be ineffectual, but also quite harmful, if taken too far. Especially harmful is an acute sense of nihilism, cultural degradation, and a disillusioned sense of perfection when it comes to life in general.

Detailed explanation-5: -“The Scarlet Letter” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, the actual story takes places in the 1600’s in a Puritan society. Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist. An anti-transcendentalist means that humans are naturally evil, society keeps them in check and nature is evil.