Sarah Brown
Professor Rodrigo
ENH 241
30JUN09


Understanding the Transcendentalism period gave me a better understanding about the other four periods because it showed me how hard the people were fighting for their human rights. It especially helped me understand the Critique of Slavery period because it was the first step in gaining freedom.

Understanding this period affected my understanding of the literary themes by giving me a more thorough understanding of them; especially Diversity and The American Dream. Diversity was a big issue during this time, and reading about the struggles that went on between different races, ethnicities, and gender really helped me get a firm grasp of the theme. The theme of The American Dream also became clearer because I saw how hard the people wanted liberty and freedom and the rights that they deserved. It gave a whole new meaning to what I had thought the American Dream was.

If I had chosen the Transcendentalism period I would have chosen to research Margaret Fuller and Jones Very as my authors. Margaret Fuller was an amazing women’s rights activist and I would have loved to research about everything that she did for women as well as read her texts. Jones Very was very much related to Shakespeare. Most of the poems that he wrote were in the Shakespearean Sonnet form, which is one of my favorites.

Also, if I had chosen the Transcendentalism period I would have read the texts The Great Lawsuit, by Margaret Fuller and To the Canary Bird, by Jones Very. I would have chosen The Great Lawsuit because it is an incredible story about the idea that man will rightfully inherit the earth just as soon as they become elevated beings. She incorporates so many of her view on women’s rights into this essay that it is hard not to feel empowered as a woman. She even says men cannot find perfection because he is still ‘burdened with selfish desires’. Her essay is certainly not anti-men, throughout it she keeps an optimistic attitude that men are ‘on the verge of a new awakening’.

I would have chosen To the Canary Bird by Jones Very because it is a poem about liberty and human rights. I think that it would have been a good compliment to Margaret Fullers essay because they both strive to have their voices heard through their writings.

I really learned a lot from reading my classmates postings on the Transcendentalism period. The postings showed me how much was going on during this time and how many things were being fought for. It’s incredible to think that the freedoms and rights we have now did not always exist for people; it really makes you appreciate what you have.