Transcendentalism Definition

Transcendentalism is an American literary and philosophical movement that developed in New

England in the 1830s and '40s...Transcendentalism [emphasizes] individual intuition as a central
means of understanding reality. Keyed to this idea [is] a belief in the presence of God in nature... The
individual's soul mirrors the world's soul, and we can arrive at these truths by communing with the
beauty and goodness of nature " (Quinn).

Transcendentalist Characteristics

 non-conformity

 simplicity

 self-reliance

 Over-soul

 Importance of the Individual

 Importance if the nature

Important Transcendentalists

Henry David Thoreau

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Margaret Fuller

History of Transcendentalism

The transcendental movement took place during the 1830s to the late 1840s. It was born out of a
divide in the Unitarian church. Transcendentalists wanted to grow out of Lockean thinking that had
begun to dominate the time period. This limited type of thinking was especially evident at Harvard
where many of the Transcendentalists were educated. The most prominent way to educate at the
time was through "recitation" where words and lessons were just recited but were never truly
learned. This kind of learning discouraged individual thinking (Bickman). Transcendentalism was
also influenced by the romantic movement in Europe during the American and French revolutions.
The connection with nature and the importance of the individual interested many of the
transcendentalists (Ackermann). Ralph Waldo Emerson formed the Transcendental Club in Concord
and is known as the founder of Transcendentalism (Linge).

Defintions

Romantic Movement: a movement in literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th
centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization; "Romanticism valued imagination and
emotion over rationality"(The Free Dictionary).
Unitarianism: "believed in the "unity" of God instead of the traditional conception of God as a
"trinity" of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...preached that people were good, or at least capable of being
good...embraced reform movements and the advances of science, viewing them as society's
movements toward goodness" ("Unitarian Church")

Transcendentalists and Social Issues

 Industrial Revolution- The transcendentalists strongly disagreed with the Industrial Revolution
(Ackermann). The industrial revolution was replacing human workers with machines and was
erasing the importance of individuality due to the uniform machines and production.

 Abolition- Transcendentalists were very opposed to slavery. Harmony with nature was a very
important belief of the transcendentalists (Glass). They believed this harmony should be applied to
individuals and society, including the relationship between African-Americans and whites (Glass).
They viewed moral laws as the most important laws of life. Thus, "they opposed slavery as a violation
of this higher law, since man was meant to be free. No man-made law or constitution, as they saw it,
could make such an institution right" (Ledbetter). Thoreau was one of the biggest supporters of
abolition. He even allowed runaway slaves to stay at his Walden cabin on their way to traveling to
Canada for freedom (Otfinoski).

 Women's Rights- One of the most motivated transcendentalists for women's rights was Margaret
Fuller. Fuller's book Women in the Nineteenth Century (1845) is a prime example of her belief in
equality for women (Linge). She also held "women-only philosophy seminars...in Boston between
1839 and 1844"(Linge). Also demonstrating their commitment to the issues, "transcendentalists
wrote about slavery and women's rights... as frequently as they did about philosophical or religious
ideas" (Glass). Individuality is an important part of transcendentalism and also relates to individual
rights of women and African Americans.

Elements of Transcendentalism:1. Nonconformity -Individualism2. Self Reliance -Trust

yourself/intuition3. Optimism -All men have equal possibilities. -Man is inherently good.4. Nature-
Appreciation of the simple life and the natural surroundings5. Oversoul-Connects all to: God,
Nature, Man-We are all part of something larger than each part. This belief draws the line between
celebrating the self and being selfish.6. Carpe Diem-Seize the day****Many elements of the
transcendental theory were evident again in the 1960’s-70’s.**** Nonconformity Civil
Disobedience Goodness of man Respect for the simple/nature life and nature Brotherhood of
man Seizing the dayKeep the above ideas in mind aswe discuss this period!!!

Emerson's Early Life

Picture

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, MA on May 25, 1803. He was born into a fairy well-
known family. His father was a Boston minister who sadly passed away when Emerson was eight
years old. To support the family, Emerson's mother ran a boarding house consisiting of six children.
Although the family was in poverty, Emerson attended the Boston Latin School where he received a
great education. He entered into Harvard College at age fourteen in 1817. At age 17, Emerson
began to write in a journal ("Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography").

Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821. He took a teaching job but was moving towards ministry.
Emerson was officially a minsiter in 1826. He married Ellen Tucker in September, 1829.
Unfortunately, she died a year and a half after they wed. He later decided to leave the ministry.
Emerson was left with no other work to do. He began to give lectures that later on turned into
essays and books. Emerson spoke out against materialism and came out to be one of America's
leading transcendentalists ("Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography").

What were Emerson's Beliefs?

It is important for people to be themselves and not worry about judgement from others
People need to follow their own paths

People need to be independent--not followers

Speak their hidden thoughts

Do not conform to society

The Oversoul--man, nature, and God are all connected

People need to depend on themselves, not God; turn to God for answers after you turn to yourself for
them

Transparent eyeball

The transparent eyeball is a philosophical metaphor originated by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The
transparent eyeball is a representation of an eye that is absorbent rather than reflective, and
therefore takes in all that nature has to offer. Emerson intends that the individual become one with
nature, and the transparent eyeball is a tool to do that. In the book Nature, Emerson explains that
the meaning behind the transparent eyeball is similar to a scientific standpoint on the Bible.

Overview

The idea of the trans-par-ent eye-ball first ap-peared in Ralph Waldo Emer-son's essay, Na-ture,
pub-lished in 1836.[1] In this essay, Emer-son de-scribes na-ture as the clos-est ex-pe-ri-ence there
is to ex-pe-ri-enc-ing the pres-ence of God. To truly ap-pre-ci-ate na-ture, one must not only look at
it and ad-mire it, but also be able to feel it tak-ing over the senses. This process re-quires ab-solute
"soli-tude, a man needs to re-tire as much from his cham-ber as from society"[1] to un-in-hab-ited
placHowever, only a "few adult persons can see nature."[1] For most people seeing is superficial. It is
light illuminating the eye revealing what is physically evident as opposed to sun "shine[s] into the eye
and heart of the child."[1] "Emerson argues that outer and inner vision merge to reveal symbols in
the natural landscape. Because of the radical correspondence between visible things and human
thoughts, natural facts serve as symbols of spiritual facts, so the natural world is perpetual allegory
of the human spirit—an allegory to which the eye gives access."[2]

"Hello: in the midst of wild Nature, the self becomes one with being and god; differentiation,
alienation and struggle cease."[3]

"For Emerson, every object rightly seen unlocks a new faculty of the soul and, while he ardently
valorizes the physical eye’s potential to see in a way that discovers symbolic meaning, his most
memorable metaphorical image for such potential, the transparent eyeball, posits a vision wherein
the eye sloughs off its body and ‘egotism,’ merging with what it sees. It is within this transparent,
disembodied state of total union with nature that Emerson claims ‘I am nothing; I see all’. The ‘all’
that Emerson seeks access is not simply harmony with nature or even knowledge, but perception of
a deep unity between the human spirit and the natural world."[2]es like the woods where—
Paragraphs 1-7 - Man Thinking

Emerson opens "The American Scholar" with greetings to the college president and members of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. Pointing out the differences between this gathering and
the athletic and dramatic contests of ancient Greece, the poetry contests of the Middle Ages, and the
scientific academies of nineteenth-century Europe, he voices a theme that draws the entire essay
together: the notion of an independent American intelligentsia that will no longer depend for
authority on its European past. He sounds what one critic contends is "the first clarion of an
American literary renaissance," a call for Americans to seek their creative inspirations using America
as their source, much like Walt Whitman would do in Leaves of Grasseighteen years later. In the
second paragraph, Emerson announces his theme as "The American Scholar" not a particular
individual but an abstract ideal.

The remaining five paragraphs relate an allegory that underlies the discussion to follow. According to
an ancient fable, there was once only "One Man," who then was divided into many men so that
society could work more efficiently. Ideally, society labors together — each person doing his or her
task — so that it can function properly. However, society has now subdivided to so great an extent
that it no longer serves the good of its citizens. And the scholar, being a part of society, has
degenerated also. Formerly a "Man Thinking," the scholar is now "a mere thinker," a problem that
Emerson hopes to correct successfully by re-familiarizing his audience with how the true scholar is
educated and what the duties of this scholar are.

Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson is an American transcendentalist. American romanticism is different from

British romanticism because of its unique concept of ‘over soul’. Emerson, in this poem advocates
the concept of over soul using the oriental religion. Using the concept of Brahma of Hinduism, he is
speaking in the favour of over soul. In terms of form, this poem is composed in four quatrains with
cross rhyme. The title ‘Brahma’ is a reference to Hinduism. According to Hinduism, Brahman is the
God of creation and belongs to the Hindu Gods trinity along with Vishnu and Shiva. In fact, Emerson
was influenced by the Oriental religion. He had studied the Geeta and the Upanishad—the sacred
texts of Hinduism. And this poem is based on his knowledge of oriental or eastern religion. Since
Emerson has assumed the person of Brahma, the speaker is Brahma himself. In terms of point of
view, the first fourteen lines are composed in first person’s point of view, as Brahman is himself the
speaker whereas the last two lines of the poem incorporate second person point of view as Brahma is
addressing the readers.

Analysis

The poem has been described as one that explores the 'continuity of life and the unity of the
universe', the 'I' in the poem being God who is in all things, thus explaining why all seeming
contradictions are as one. The overall theme of Brahma is the divine relationship and continuity of
life and the unity of the universe. To begin with, this is explained through the concept of re-
incarnation, which is expressed in the first stanza. He says that if a killer thinks he has killed
another or if the dead think that they are truly well, they do not fully realize his power; for he,
Brahma, can create, destroy and re-create. In the end the "red-slayer", or the Hindu God Krishna,
and his victim are merged in the unity of Brahma. When Brahma re-creates or "turns again," it is
known commonly as the concept of reincarnation. Thus, the continuity of life is expressed through
Brahma's eyes. Second, Emerson clarifies it the second stanza in which he states that the universe
lives in harmony ad not opposing forces such as good and evil. Lastly, Emerson calls upon the reader
to abandon praying for material thoughts or asking him, Brahma, for asylum as join him in the
ultimate unity of the universe. Thus, the request that he makes is for the reader to join him in the
ultimate unity of the universe, also known as the Hindu philosophy of Mukti.

In writing "Brahma," Emerson boldly crosses new bounds by assuming the perspective of a God and
by cleverly mixing Eastern and Western thought.

Thoreau' Early Life

Thoreau was born in Concord on July 12, 1817 and remained there throughout his life. His family
worked very hard but were never rich. His dad owned a pencil factory and the family had to take in
boarders just to afford the costs of living (Otfinoski). In Concord, Thoreau was always surrounded by
nature and embraced it (Wayne). Thoreau studied at Concord Academy and then went to college at
Harvard (Otfinoski). Thoreau met Emerson after college and became a teacher for a brief period of
time. Later, he lived with Emerson's family for two years where he helped out with the handiwork
(Wayne). Emerson introduced Thoreau to his fellow transcendentalist friends like Margaret Fuller
and Bronson Alcott. Emerson also gave Thoreau the idea of keeping a journal and writing his
experiences and thoughts in it everyday (Otfinoski). Emerson became the most important mentor for
Thoreau during his life.

Experience at Walden Pond

Thoreau decided to build a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond, which was actually on Emerson's
land. He was "attracted to the ideal of a solitary life in nature, living according to his own philosophy"
(Wayne). He started living in his cabin on July 4th, 1845 and lived there until September 1847.
Thoreau had to work very hard while living on Walden Pond. In order to get food, he planted two
acres of vegetables and fished in the pond. He read, studied, wrote in his journal and even played his
flute occasionally. Thoreau was not completely isolated though. Many of his friends visited and he
traveled to the village to find out the latest gossip and to visit his parents (Otfinoski). Thoreau wrote
down his thoughts and experiences while at Walden and this later became his famous book Walden.
The book is about, "one man's inner life and how he is changed by experience. By stripping his life
down to the essentials, Thoreau came to recognize the true meaning of life in all its mystery and
beauty"(Otfinoski).

What were Thoreau's beliefs?

People have the right to break a law they feel is wrong in order to bring attention to it and hopefully
change it (Otfinoski).

Simplicity! Happiness comes from inside yourself NOT from material goods (Otfinoski).

Live life deliberately

Man is one with nature and God

Moral law is above civil law

Thoreau desire to experience life and it's meaning by living by the most simple terms possible. He
lived off of the land. He built his own house. He hunted and fished his own food. He lived in solitude.
Through these things, Thoreau experienced how life truly is truly meant to be lived.
He desired to live a mindfully rich life, rather than a monetarily rich life, and to do that he had to
prove that living off of the most base means is not only possible, but worthwhile.

Nature, to Thoreau, was beautiful, rich, alive, and helpful. It provided him with all the aesthetic
beauty and material goods that he could ever desire. From walking through the woods to taking his
raft out and chasing ducks, he spent all of his time outdoors, fully immersing himself in the natural
world; for that was where he was truly alive. He pitied those who felt not the desire but the need for
luxurious material goods.

He wrote the book not to get others to follow in his footsteps and live a year in the woods, he was
simply showing that it is important for one to follow their heart and find meaning in their lives. He
even says that the book was not meant to act as an instruction book for people, it was for people to
brainstorm to find ways to find life like he did.

Finally, Thoreau was not interested in working his life away. He says that people who work day in
and day out are “machines,” who have found themselves trapped in life that is fruitful in works but
barren in happiness and life. For Thoreau, life is meant to be lived— not worked. He worked for six
weeks to save up enough money to buy supplies to live for a year in the woods. I believe his total
expenses came out to 28 dollars. Endless toil is not living. Thoreau desired to live.

I am about 6 months removed from reading Walden, so I apologize if some minutiae are incorrect.
There are certainly other reasons as to why Thoreau wrote this book but these were the major ones I
could come up with.

The Battle of the Ants by Henry David Thoreau

Summary:

Thoreau notices a war between two races of ants, red on one side and black on the other. The ground
by his house is covered with the armies of black and red ants, and he compares them to human wars
for their determination and heroism. He puts a couple of them under a microscope and observes
their injuries. Thoreau compares the human war to the ants' war.

At the same time, it is obvious that Thoreau extrapolates his observations of the ants on the life of
human beings. As the matter of fact, his �Battle of the Ants�� can be viewed as an allegory, in
which he presents his views on the modern society and life of human beings. He underlines that the
life of the ants is defined by the existing order which is not violated by any means. Consequently,
implicitly he indicates to the possibility of the existence the particular social order established in
human society. In such a context, the battle of the ants can be a reference to the Darwinist views
which could have influenced Thoreau. Finally, the author attempts to understand where the social
order ends and personal freedom starts.

A big connection between ants and humans is just how many parallels you can draw between the
two seemingly incredibly different species. They cultivate plants and other animals for food, they
devour whatever resources they come across, they are capable of adapting to almost any
environment. They build large complex structures and they are even capable of incredible learned
behavior that rivals that of some mammals. The allegory does not end there. Thoreau uses the
comparison between ants and humans to great effect in his novel, "Walden". He describes how the
battle has no clear cause and no clear victor, and how it leaves only destruction in its wake. Yet he
builds up how important the battle is and how brave and valiant these soldiers are. He claims that
these battles are just as important as any human battle. The commentary he is making is humans
tend to war for little reason and at extreme costs to themselves. They result in lives thrown away for
no discernible reason and often times no side emerges a victor. In addition, he is able to drawn the
comparison that we are no better than ants when we fight and kill each other. Attributing our
behaviors to that of a lowly insect is a big stab at those who support war. He also may be trying to
use this example to assert the transcendental idea that man and nature are inherently good but are
corrupted by institutions. On their own these ants would have no reason to attack any other ants
but because they are commanded to protect their homestead by the queen they have no choice but
to put their lives on the line and kill all who oppose them. Humans also have little incentive to take
up arms against one another, but are often told to "for the greater good". A large part of what
Thoreau stood for was that you shouldn't do what someone tells you just because that person is an
authority figure. Ants are an excellent example of a society completely ruled by institution.

The link between ants and humans runs deeper than mere metaphor and allegory. Ants have served
many different roles in the lives of humans throughout history. While they are often thought of as
pests, they have also been beneficial to humans in many ways. For instance, they are used
medically for sutures is certain parts of the world, and some have venom that has medical
implications. They are also used as a bio-control method in China. Full grown ants as well as larvae
are eaten around the world. Some species are even considered a delicacy due to the rarity of the
product. The behavior of ants has inspired different forms of computing as well as the concept of
swarm robotics where robots that can to very little work in concert to complete a task.

Culturally ants are often referenced in folk tales and fables as an example of hard work and
dedication. They are referenced as such in many religious texts as well, such as the bible. Even in
modern day culture these values of ants are espoused, such as in the children's animated film, "A
Bug's Life". On a more serious note, many others have also used ants to symbolize the society and
the individual. Often these kinds of works discuss how the any colony as a whole cares not for any
individual ant, just as human society doesn't care for each individual human. The idea that society
will forsake the well-being of the few in order to tend to the needs of the many is a hot topic of
philosophical discussion.

Why I left the woods

After 2 years, 2 months and 2 days, Henry Thoreau left his house at Walden Pond and moves back
home in Concord.

Thoreau's stay at Walden was a great success and he would never again have such a productive
literary period. He finished two drafts of the book he went to the Pond to write, A Week on The
Concord and Merrimack Rivers, which would be published in 1849. He wrote a lecture and had it
published as an essay, "Thomas Carlyle and His Works," and also began another essay on his 1846
trip to Maine. And he also started a lecture entitled "A History of Myself," an account of his
"housekeeping" at Walden Pond. This lecture would eventually become Thoreau's
masterpiece, Walden; or, Life in The Woods — but that wouldn't be for another seven years!

Why did Thoreau leave the Pond? In the conclusion of Walden he writes, "I left the woods for as good
a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not
spare any more time for that one." And Thoreau did accomplish a great deal in those two years, and
not just in a literary sense. He grew up in those two years. He lived a relatively self-reliant life and
discovered what it meant to "be alive." At Walden, Thoreau lived his life on his terms and and, in his
words, endeavored to live the life that he imagined.

When Thoreau left the Pond he moved back into his parents house for about a month. In
October, Ralph Waldo Emerson began a one year lecture tour in England. Thoreau would move
into Emerson's house as a caretaker/handy man in order to watch over the Emerson family and
handle RWE's business affairs while he was gone. Near the end of 1848 Thoreau would move home
to his parents' house and would remain with them for the rest of his life.

Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)

esistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by

American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau
argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and
that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them
the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–
American War (1846–1848).

Background[edit]

The slavery crisis inflamed New England in the 1840s and 1850s. The environment became
especially tense after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. A lifelong abolitionist, Thoreau delivered an
impassioned speech which would later become Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving
Walden Pond. The speech dealt with slavery, but at the same time excoriated American imperialism,
particularly the Mexican–American War.

In 1846, the United States declared war against Mexico. Thoreau and other Northern critics of the
war viewed it as a plot by Southerners to expand slavery into the Southwest. Thoreau had already
stopped paying his taxes in protest against slavery. The local tax collector had ignored his tax
evasion, but decided to act when Thoreau publicly condemned the U.S. invasion and occupation of
Mexico.

In July 1846, the sheriff arrested and jailed Thoreau for his tax delinquency. Someone, probably a
relative, anonymously paid Thoreau’s taxes after he had spent one night in jail. This incident
prompted Thoreau to write his famous essay, “Civil Disobedience” (originally published in 1849 as
“Resistance to Civil Government”).

Passage To India By Walt Whitman

About Walt Whitman: Born in 1819 in Long Island, Walt Whitman was the second child of nine. At
the time he began writing his poems, there was coming a transition between transcendentalism and
realism, and as a result both of these themes appear in many of his works. He published his major
work, Leaves of Grass, in the year 1855. Considered obscene by many, this piece of work was
controversial upon its release. Whitman’s poetry is mostly in free verse and he is often called the
father of the form. A humanist, author and poet, Whitman died in the year 1892 at the age of 72 in
Camden, New Jersey.
About Passage to India: Passage to India is a prime example of Whitman’s transcendentalism and
realism themes in his poems. It is wholly written in free verse and is considered one of his finest
works.

Setting of the poem: The title suggests that the setting of the poem may be India. But it isn’t. India
is but a metaphor. The poem is set throughout time. From the beginning of time, to ancient history,
to modern wonders and to the unexplored future; the poem covers and traverses it all.

sumary

Whitman was greatly impressed by three great engineering achievements: the opening of the Suez
Canal (1869), the laying of the transatlantic undersea cable (1866), and the joining of the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at Utah to produce the nation's first transcontinental railway
(1869). These events resulted in improved communication and travel, thus making possible a shorter
passage to India. But in Whitman's poem, the completion of the physical journey to India is only a
prelude to the spiritual pathway to India, the East, and, ultimately, to God.

The poet, in section 1, celebrates his time, singing of "the great achievements of the present," and
listing "our modern wonders": the opening of the Suez Canal, the building of the great American
railroad, and the laying of the transatlantic cable. Yet these achievements of the present have grown
out of the past, "the dark unfathom'd retrospect." If the present is great, the past is greater because,
like a projectile, the present is "impell'd by the past."

Here Whitman presents the world of physical reality, an antecedent to the world of spiritual reality.
The essential idea in emphasizing the three engineering marvels is to indicate man's progress in
terms of space. The space-time relationship is at the heart of the matter. The present is significant,
but it is only an extension of the past and, therefore, its glories can be traced to times before. Man
has mastered space, but he must enrich his spiritual heritage by evoking his past. His achievement
in space will remain inadequate unless it is matched, or even surpassed, by his achievement in time
and his spiritual values.

In section 2, Whitman envisages a passage to India which is illuminated by "Asiatic" and "primitive"
fables. The fables of Asia and Africa are "the far-darting beams of the spirit," and the poet sings of
the "deep diving bibles and legends." The spanning of the earth by scientific and technological means
is only part of the divine scheme to have "the races, neighbors." The poet, therefore, sings of "a
worship new," a spiritual passage to India.

The poet here identifies time with space and merges them in the realm of the spirit. Modern miracles
of science are all part of a divine plan, of "God's purpose from the first." Thus the poet sings of a new
religion which will combine the scientific achievements of the present with the spiritual attainments
of the past.

Man's achievements in communications are shown in the portrayal of "tableaus twain" in section 3.
The first tableau, or picture, is the first passage through the Suez Canal "initiated, open'd" by a
"procession of steamships." The second picture is the journey of the railway cars "winding along the
Platte" River to a junction of the Union and Central Pacific railroads. These two engineering
achievements have given concrete shape to the dreams of the "Genoese," Columbus, "centuries after
thou art laid in thy grave." Columbus dreamed of "tying the Eastern to the Western sea"; his ideal
has now been fulfilled.
The underlying significance of the two events which Whitman describes here is to show that man's
material advancement is only a means to his spiritual progress. The poet seems to master the
vastness of space through his visionary power. And his thoughts also span time: modern
achievements are a realization of Columbus' dream of linking East with West. His discovery of
America was only a first step toward finding a shorter passage to India.

Section 4 tells how "many a captain" struggled to reach India. History seems like an underground
stream which now and again rises to the surface. Thus Whitman praises Vasco da Gama, who
discovered the sea route to India, and who thus accomplished the "purpose vast," the "rondure
[rounding] of the world."

This is a tribute to the courage and adventurous spirit of the West in seeking a passage to India. The
poet has a vision of history "as a rivulet running," and this dominates his sense of space. History is
conceived of as a progression of continuous events which are like a flowing stream. This stream joins
the spiritual sea and the poet's vision endows historical happenings with spiritual meaning.

Section 5 presents the spectacle of this earth "swimming in space," endowed with incredible beauty
and power. Since the days of Adam and Eve, Whitman says, man has asked the meaning of life:
"Who shall soothe these feverish children?/ . . . Who speak the secret of impassive earth?' After the
scientists and explorers have achieved their goals, the poet, who is "the true son of God," will forge
the links of spiritual union. "Trinitas divine" will be achieved through the visionary power of the poet;
he will fuse "Nature and Man."

The earth has been spanned by the efforts of engineers and technicians, Whitman says, and now it is
for the poet to bring about the unity of East and West in the realm of the spirit. In his general survey
of history, Whitman seems to encompass all time. The poet is the "true son of God" because, in
visualizing the union of man and nature, he responds to the divine call within him. He is thus a true
explorer and a discoverer of spiritual India.

In section 6, the poet sings of the "marriage of continents." Europe, Asia, Africa, and America are
dancing "as brides and bridegrooms hand in hand." The "soothing cradle of man" is India. The poet
perceives India as an ancient land of history and legend, morals and religion, adventure and
challenge. Brahma and Buddha, Alexander and Tamerlane, Marco Polo and other "traders, rulers,
explorers" all shared in its history. "The Admiral himself" (Columbus) is the chief historian. The poet
says the culmination of heroic efforts is deferred for a long time. But eventually their seeds will
sprout and bloom into a plant that "fills the earth with use and beauty."

Here Whitman has explored the swift passage of time and has invoked the India of Buddha through
the present achievement of the linkage of continents by modern technology. The poet thus becomes a
time-binder. He also attempts to fuse the familiar with the unfamiliar and the physical with the
spiritual. He stands "curious in time," but he also stands outside of time, in eternity, in his spiritual
quest.

Section 7 confirms that a passage to India is indeed a journey of the soul "to primal thought." It is
not confined to "lands and seas alone." It is a passage back to the Creation, to innocence, "to realms
of budding bibles." Whitman is anxious for himself and his soul to begin their journey.

The language of section 7 is highly metaphorical. The return of the poet and his soul to the East is
envisaged as a journey back to the cradle of mankind, to the East, where many religions had their
birth. It is a journey "back to wisdom's birth, to innocent intuitions." The poet and his soul seek a
mystical experience of union with God in the realm of the spirit.
In section 8, the poet and his soul are about to "launch out on trackless seas" and to sail "on waves
of ecstasy" singing "our song of God." The soul pleases the poet, and the poet pleases the soul, and
they begin their spiritual exploration. They believe in God "but with the mystery of God we dare not
dally." They think "silent thoughts, of Time and Space and Death." The poet addresses God as "O
Thou transcendent,/ Nameless," as the source of light and cosmic design and a "moral, spiritual
fountain." Whitman "shrivels at the thought of God,/At Nature and its wonders," but he expects the
soul to bring about a harmonious reconciliation with these forces. When the soul accomplishes its
journey and confronts God, it will be as if it had found an older brother. It will finally melt "in
fondness in his arms."

The last two sections of this poem are marked by an upsurge of spiritual thought and an ecstatic
experience. The poet and his soul, like two lovers, are united in harmony. They seek the mystical
experience of union with God. The poet reflects on the nature of God as a transcendental deity. By
comprehending God, the poet is enabled to comprehend himself and also man's complex relationship
with time, space, and death. The soul is eternal and establishes its relationship with time. The soul
is vast and expansive and thus forms a relationship with space. The soul is alive forever and thus
conquers death.

In section 8, the poet and his soul together seek to perceive the Divine Reality. Both eagerly await a
mystical experience of union with God, of merging with the Divine Being. God is conceived of as a
"fountain" or "reservoir" and this image is similar to the basic metaphor of water, which is necessary
to nourish the greenery" of Leaves of Grass.

In section 9, the journey which the soul embarks on is a passage to more than India." It is a
challenging spiritual journey. Whitman asks the soul if it is ready: "Are thy wings plumed indeed for
such far flights?" The passage to the divine shores, to the "aged fierce enigmas," and to the
"strangling problems" is filled with difficulty and "skeletons, that, living, never reach'd you" — but it
is a thrilling journey. The poet, fired by the spirit of Columbus, is intent on seeking an "immediate
passage" because "the blood burns in my veins." He "will risk . . . all" in this bold and thrilling
adventure; but actually it is safe enough, for are they not all the seas of God"? Thus the passage to
India — and more — is a journey of man through the seas of God in search of an ideal. It is marked
by intense spiritual passion.

This last section presents the final evolution of the symbol of India, which began as a geographical
entity and culminated in a timeless craving of man for the realization of God. The words "passage"
and "India" both have an evolving symbolic meaning and significance in this richly evocative poem
and the growth of their meanings is indirectly the growth of the poem itself.

The last major poem of Whitman's career, "Passage to India" celebrates the achievement of material
science and industry, but the poem merely used these physical forms to accomplish what he termed
the "unfolding of cosmic purposes" (Traubel 167). In his mature years, Whitman returned to the
dominant theme of the early poems: the transcendental journey to the Soul. With the world linked by
the modern wonders of transportation and communication, Whitman envisioned a world ready for its
final accomplishment: the creation of spiritual unity.

The poet in section 5 presents himself as the "true son of God, the poet" who will settle the doubts of
man (Adam and Eve) and justify their innate desire for exploration. The poet will assuage such
doubts by showing that the world is not disjoined and diffuse, but integrated and whole. Part of that
integration must entail an account of the past, a time in which previous explorers, like Columbus,
failed. To transform previous failure into success, the poet celebrates America, the continent that
Columbus discovered accidentally but which ultimately gave reality to his dream of connecting East
and West. In section 7 the poet begins to express his impatience with waiting for the Soul to make its
journey to "primal thought," to "realms of budding bibles." At the beginning of section 8, the poet
urges the Soul to action, and in that section and the last, the poet celebrates the exuberant flight of
the Soul. Through reconciling the thoughts and deeds of the past, the Soul, merged with the poet,
unleashes itself in flight toward a merger with God, "the Comrade perfect."

"Passage to India" can be approached on at least three levels: the philosophical, the political, and the
aesthetic. Philosophically, the poem is thoroughly transcendental. The title suggests Whitman's
longtime interest in the East and in mysticism. India represents the historical cradle of civilization
and religion and also the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey, yet, as Whitman says at the
beginning of the poem's last section, the goal is "Passage to more than India!" (section 9). Whitman's
brand of mysticism was Western at its core, embracing the physical world as a vehicle to the
spiritual. Hegelian in his conception of progress, Whitman sees an ongoing confrontation of opposites
(physical and spiritual, ancient and modern, life and death), a mediation between them, and the
creation of a new entity that enters into an endless cycle of creation. The physical is just as vital as is
the spiritual to provide a pathway to the Soul.

In "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," Whitman referred to physical phenomena as the "dumb, beautiful
ministers" (section 9) that provide the pathway to the Soul. A decade and half later, he returned to
his transcendental argument—that spirituality will be achieved through an embracing of the physical
world, not through its denial. Yet the poem does not convey the gritty physical realities of the early
poems. In "Passage to India," the achievements of modern science are linked to the monumental
wonders of the ancient world. However, Whitman presents them as far less robust entities than even
the everyday Brooklyn ferry and its passengers. In the first section of "Passage to India," the poet
praises the "light works" of engineers and the "gentle wires" of modern communication. Later, in
section 3, the steel rails that cross the American continent are envisioned as "duplicate slender
lines." For Whitman, modern science and technology, no less than religion and art, unify the world,
dissolve the limits of time and space, and connect the individual to God. But in his last great poetic
effort—what Gay Wilson Allen likened to Milton's epic justification of God's ways to man—Whitman's
vision, as had his language, had softened. Even the Soul itself, which he terms "thou actual Me,"
operates gently (section 8). The Soul "gently masterest the orbs" (section 8). For many years,
Whitman had repeated his transcendental praise of unity and had insisted upon it even as he
graphically constructed an earthy, multitudinous panorama. In "Passage to India" he is too impatient
to construct the panorama, and he yearns for the journey to be accomplished. "Have we not stood
here like trees in the ground long enough?" he asks (section 9).

Politically, "Passage to India" can be seen as a questioning of the materialistic values of the Gilded
Age. On one hand, Whitman embraces American capitalism and its products. David Reynolds sees a
marked difference in Whitman's depiction of capitalism and labor in the early poems and in the later
poems. In the early poems, he says, Whitman praises individual laborers; in his later poems he
extols the virtues of industry and the workforce, not workers. The armies of the past would be
replaced by "armies" of workers. However, as Reynolds notes, Whitman was not entirely comfortable
with America's growing materialism. In Democratic Vistas, completed the same year as "Passage to
India," Whitman envisioned America evolving beyond its preoccupation with commerce. Betsy
Erkkila sees in the poem the same repudiation of materialistic values as it "leaps" toward spiritual
transcendence, but she sees also a reconciliation of materialism and spiritualism in the figure of
Columbus. In Columbus, Erkkila argues, Whitman found his ideal merger of the explorer of the
physical world and the religious prophet whose dream of reaching India had been achieved through
the creation of an industrialized nation. The poet then becomes the spiritual heir of Columbus. As
the poet-explorer, he could praise both individualism and national unity.

The poem's aesthetic qualities have earned it mixed reviews. For some readers, Whitman's turning to
traditional poetic diction ("thee," "thou," "seest") is disappointing. For others, like Stanley Coffman,
the poem's imagery more than compensates. For Coffman, the dominant motif of the poem is
metamorphosis, and Whitman uses images of "passage" of forms into higher forms, spiraling to the
Soul. He connects the past with the present, the present with the future, with images of projection;
the natural growth of the past into the present projects or propels the present into the future. A
duality of images reconciles a duality of concepts.

If "Passage to India" is less pleasing than Whitman's earlier verse, the reason is not because the
poem deals with a more abstract or "universal" theme. The striving for a transcendent state is the
theme of both "Passage to India" and the major early poems. Aside from its archaic language, what
marks the poem is its self-constraint and self-containment. Lacking are the grand catalogues of the
early poems and the personal, oratorical appeals to the reader. Whitman was master of both the long
and the short lyric. "A Noiseless Patient Spider," one of the poems included in the Passage to
India supplement, illustrates well Whitman's mastery of the short form. Both poems echo each other.
Adam and Eve in "Passage to India" are said to be "wandering, yearning, curious, with restless
explorations" (section 5). The speaker on his journey to the Soul passes the "Promontory" (section 3).
In both poems he was dealing with the figure of the poet striving to reach the Soul through making
connections among physical phenomena. Without the catalogues, the interspersed narratives, and
the expansive rhetorical features of the early long poems, Whitman's talent, at least for some readers,
found its best expression in the short poem such as "A Noiseless Patient Spider."