Sophs: Thursday's Homework--The Transcendentalists

Read these pages in your book tonight: Ralph Waldo Emerson: 367-370---Henry David Thoreau: 383-387. Write down three lines (quotations) from both writers that sound inspirational. 

Both of these men were Romantics (they "loved" Nature), but they took their love of Nature to a higher degree, almost to the point of being Pantheists (people who study and revere Nature as a religion). 

They called themselves Transcendentalists. As Transcendentalists they believed in:

1. Oversoul--there is a part, a force, of God in all of us and all living things 

2. Communion with Nature--man can experience this "force" when he communes with Nature

3. Self-reliance--every man should rely on this "force" to make important decisions in his life--do not rely on the advice of others--be true to yourself at all times