WebQuest: The Transcendentalist Spirit

Overview: In this WebQuest, you will explore the Transcendental period as an age of reform. Nineteenth-century America proved to be a dramatic time of change in the area of women’s rights, slavery, education, publication (and thus the reading population), and industry. In exploring these sites, think about why such change was taking place at this particular time, in this particular place.

Step 1: Gain a basic understanding of Transcendentalism.

Read about the American Renaissance and Transcendentalism. Read about the center of Transcendentalism: Concord, Massachusetts.

Learn about the development of events in Concord. Consider the question: What Is Transcendentalism?

Step 2: Learn about key figures in the Transcendentalist movement.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry David Thoreau

Margaret Fuller

The Alcotts

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Learn about others in the Transcendentalist circle. Visit Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where many Transcendentalist authors are buried.

Step 3: Gain a deeper understanding of how ideas were circulated and discussed during this time.
Learn about the Lyceum Circuit. Be sure to follow all the links and sections of this site. Explore the role of magazines, books, and other periodicals at the following sites:

Making of America: 19th-Century Magazines

The Nineteenth Century in Print: The Making of America in Books and Periodicals (Library of Congress)
Learn about the famous Transcendentalist magazine, The Dial.

Step 4: Consider the connections between the Transcendentalist movement and the educational reform movement in the United States.
Read about A. Bronson Alcott and reform movements in which he participated. Learn more about the Alcott family (including Louisa May!) and their connections to the literary history and reform of the period. Look at these pictures of a Bronson Alcott publication, and learn more about his contributions to the educational reform movement. Explore Lucretia Mott’s contributions to educational reform through public speaking. (NOTE: This is a PDF file and may take a while to download.)

Step 5: Consider the connections between the Transcendentalist movement and the 19th-century women's movement in the United States.

Visit Jone Johnston’s excellent site to learn about Transcendentalist Women. Read about the Women’s Rights Movement. Read about the Seneca Falls Convention, and read "The Seneca Falls Declaration" (1848). Explore women’s issues in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Delve into Godey’s Lady’s Book, one of the most popular publications for women in the nineteenth century. Read about the women’s suffrage movement. Explore women's literary practices in the nineteenth century. Be sure to visit the desk, the parlor, and the kitchen!

Step 6: Consider the connections between the Transcendentalist movement and the abolitionist movement.

To understand this crucial chapter in American history, explore the materials at Abolition, Anti-Slavery Movements,  the Rise of the Sectional Controversy (Library of Congress).
Part 1
Part 2

NOTE: We’ll be exploring abolitionism much more fully on March 13 when we study the work of Frederick Douglass.

Step 7: Familiarize yourself with the best web resources on Transcendentalism.

American Transcendentalism Web

Transcendentalists.com

. . . and finally, for those of you who are interested, consider the connections between Transcendentalism and Eastern philosophy:

East Meets West (including Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Alcott)

Journal Prompts

As always, at least one of your journal entries this week should be in response to the WebQuest.

Essay Question
Discuss one or two ways the educational reform movement OR the women’s rights movement were connected to the to the transcendentalist movement. (We’ll save abolitionism for our study of Douglass.) What was it about the period that created an atmosphere where reform would flourish? Use excerpts from the sites as well as from the works in the Transcendentalism Reader (Margaret Fuller, Sophia Ripley, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and A. Bronson Alcott). See the Essay Guidelines for more detail about research, sources, length requirements, and documentation. Essay due to Dr. Tate via email by Wednesday, February 6, at 3:00 p.m.

"American Transcendentalism: An Online Travel Guide" was produced by students in ENGL 446, American Transcendentalism, and ENGL 447, American Literature and the Prominence of Place: A Travel Practicum. These courses were team-taught in the Department of English at Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in Spring 2002 by Dr. Patricia Dwyer and Dr. Linda Tate. For more information on the course and the web project, visit "About This Site." © 2003 Linda Tate.