A Study of the Transcendental Naturalism in Walden【毕业论文】.doc

1、毕业论文 文客久久 本科 毕业论文 (设计 ) 题 目： A Study of the Transcendental Naturalism in Walden 学 院： 学生姓名： 专 业： 英语 班 级： 指导教师： 起 止 日期： 毕业论文 文客久久 Contents Abstract . 1 Introduction 3 1. A Survey of Transcendentalism . 4 1.1 The Origin and the Development of Transcendentalism . 4 1.2 The Content of Transcendentalism .

2、 4 1.3 The Influence of Transcendentalism on American Literature 5 2. Thoreaus Transcendental Naturalism in Walden . 6 2.1 Being Kind to and Cherish All the Life . 6 2.2 Thoreaus Pursuit of Simple Material and Rich Spirit 7 2.3 Thoreaus Return to Nature to Unify Humans and Nature . 8 3. The Origin o

3、f Thoreaus Transcendental Naturalism 9 3.1 The Living Environment of Thoreaus Childhood-Concord . 9 3.2 The Tradition of American Culture and Concord . 10 3.3 The Influence of American Transcendentalism and Emerson . 11 3.4 The Influence of American Indian Culture and Oriental Culture . 12 4. The Si

4、gnificance of Thoreaus Transcendental Naturalism . 12 Conclusion . 13 References . 15 毕业论文 1 摘要 亨利大卫梭罗是十九世纪美国超验主义作家，当代环境主义的先驱。梭罗一生涉猎研究领域十分广泛，所以人们对于梭罗的成就的定位一直以来是个争论不休的话题。在梭罗的众多成就之中，最让人熟知的是他的超验主义自然观。在他的代表作瓦尔登湖中，梭罗记录了他在瓦尔登湖与大自然亲密接触的两年中对自然深刻的思考。梭罗通过他在瓦尔登湖的生活实践，向读者充分表达了他的生活观。梭罗在对自然的描写中，处处渗透着生态主义的思想，人类只有和

5、自然和谐相处，才能拥有完整的生命内涵，才能最终消灭生态危机和现代人的精 神危机，人与自然的关系应该是一种温柔的人际关系。梭罗的超验主义自然观对我们今天反思全球性的生态环境恶化和人的精神生态危机具有重要的学术价值和现实意义。 本文通过分析超验主义思想的起源和发展，内容以及影响，从而引出梭罗在瓦尔登湖中体现出的超验主义自然观：善待和真爱一切生命；物质简单化和精神丰富化；回归自然，天人合一。进而探讨梭罗超验主义自然观产生的原因以及深远的意义。最后得出结论：自然和人类的关系应该是和谐的；自然既是人类生活的家园，又是人类心灵的归宿。本文重在对梭罗的复杂的自然观进行分析，在于发 现其对正处于当今环境和精神

6、危机的现代人启示。 关键词 ： 超验主义；自然；简单；和谐 毕业论文 2 Abstract Henry David Thoreau is the 19th century American writer of transcendentalism and the pioneer of modern environmentalism. Thoreaus research is very extensive. Thus, it has been a controversial topic for people to locate Thoreaus achievements. In Thoreaus

7、achievements, the most famous idea is his transcendental naturalism. In his representative work Walden, Thoreau records his profound reflections on nature during his two-year communication with nature at Walden Pond. In his life practice at Walden Pond, Thoreau expresses to the full his simple life

8、viewpoint. In his description of nature, every detail is penetrated with the ecological thought. Only when we get on well with the nature can we possess the intact life connotation and eventually exterminate the ecological crisis and the spiritual crisis of human being. The relationship between peop

9、le and nature should be gentle and pleasant. Thoreaus transcendental naturalism is academically and practically significant. By means of the deep and all-round analysis of the origin and the development of the transcendentalism, this thesis leads to Thoreaus transcendental naturalism manifested in W

10、alden: be kind to and cherish life; material simplification and spirit enrichment; return to nature to unify humans and nature. Furthermore, it probes into the origin and the significance of Thoreaus transcendental naturalism. In the end, a conclusion is drawn that the relationship between nature an

11、d humans should be harmonious; nature is the home where we live as well as the home our mind return to. The focus of the thesis is to analyze Thoreaus complicated transcendental naturalism and to deliver its significant enlightenment to the people who are in the plight of the environment and spirit.

12、 Key words: transcendentalism; nature; simple; harmony 毕业论文 3 A Study of the Transcendental Naturalism in Walden Introduction Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is a great American writer of transcendentalism in the 19th century, and he is the first major interpreter of nature in American literature. H

13、owever, his ideas in his works go beyond his age and are thus ignored by his contemporaries. His published writings have few readers and little impact on his life. “Thoreaus reputation is unique. It has a pattern all his own, filled with paradoxes and contradictions, and widely vacillating from deca

14、de to decade. In his own day he was generally dismissed; yet in our day he is universally recognized as one of the few American writers of the nineteenth century who deserves the appellation great ”(Myerson, 2000:1). Though ignored at first, with the development of the environmentalism, Thoreau is r

15、ediscovered in the later period of the 20th century. His living experiment at Walden Pond has become a myth in peoples imagination and the masterpiece Walden records his thought on the relationship between man and nature. Walden is a record of his simplified and self-sufficient two-year living alone

16、 at Walden Pond. But he didnt live the life of a hermit in the traditional sense. Rather he hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Walden concerns the environmental excellence as well as human excellence. Its a work about man-nature flourishing, and is a

17、demonstration of harmony between man and nature. It is considered one of the greatest classics in nature writing, and one of the greatest books that has shaped American mind. Thoreaus reputation does not come easily to him. Though his concept of nature hasnt been accepted in his own time, time will

18、tell the importance of Thoreaus view of nature, especially when human beings are facing more and more environmental and spiritual crisis. Nowadays, with the rapid development of modern civilization, nature has suffered unprecedented devastation. The deterioration of environment has bitterly endanger

19、ed the existence and development of mankind. Meantime, nature is giving place to material goods, which makes people helpless on a spiritual wasteland. The merchandising of the nature, the expanding material desire and the decline of the individual spirits are unavoidable, which leads to mans predato

20、ry behavior beyond his rationality and the destruction of the nature in the end. This thesis will focus on Thoreaus view of nature from transcendental perspective. It will probe into the origin and development of transcendentalism and Thoreaus transcendental naturalism embodied in Walden, and the or

21、igin of Thoreaus transcendentalism naturalism as well. Though Thoreau lived almost a century earlier, what he has advocated and stressed in Walden still has great significance in todays society which is suffering the environmental and spiritual crises. 毕业论文 4 1. A Survey of Transcendentalism 1.1 The

22、 Origin and the Development of Transcendentalism American Romanticism culminated in what has been known as “New England Transcendentalism.” In the middle and late 19th century, the United States was vigorously developed. With the progress of industry, the increase of population, and the development

23、of education popularization movement, more and more Americans were beginning to be involved in industrialization and accept education. The wealth was increasing quickly and the society was developing prosperously and peacefully. At that time, stepping out of the influence of Europe, Americans desire

24、d for freedom and democracy and hoped to realize the liberation of the personality. The American society urgently needed a great idea which could represent the American Spirit. Against this historical background, transcendentalism came into being. Based in New England, more precisely in and around B

25、oston, and existing from the 1830s to the beginning of the Civil War, New England Transcendentalism began as a protest against the rationalism and skepticism philosophy, especially the Calvinism which laid the theoretical foundation of the Puritanism. The transcendentalism was influenced by the idea

26、lism and mysticism of German Kant, Fichte, and Schelling. It also received inspiration from the literature of Coleridge, Wordsworth and Goethe. The publication of Ralph Waldo Emersons essay Nature in 1836 was usually considered the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural

27、movement. In the same year, the Transcendentalism Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts was set up by prominent New England intellectuals including George Putnam, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and Frederick Henry Hedge. With the movement developed, transcendentalism began to s

28、tep up the stage of the American history. 1.2 The Content of Transcendentalism The term “Transcendentalism” is derived from the Latin verb “transcendere,” meaning to rise above, or to pass beyond the limits. As the leader of this movement, Ralph Waldo Emersons transcendentalism retains some distingu

29、ishing characteristics of Puritanism, without its religious elementsmoral earnestness. He believes that “the chief function of nature is to confirm to man the beauty and harmony of Gods universe, its call to the strenuous, hard-working life, and its insistence on mans obligation to glorify in his li

30、fe the power that created him”(Mednick, 1996:124). As one of the most influential philosophical and literary movement in the history of the country, “it placed emphasis on spirit or the Oversoul in the universe, offered a fresh perfection of nature as symbolic of the spirit of God, and more signific

31、antly, stressed the importance of the individual”(Yang,2005:117). Transcendentalists firmly believed in such doctrines as self-respect and self-reliance, constantly telling people to 毕业论文 5 depend upon themselves for spiritual perfection. Ultimately, “transcendentalism is a way of knowing-the belief

32、 that man can intuitively transcend the limits of the senses and of logic and receive directly higher truths and greater knowledge denied to other methods of knowing”(Mednick, 1996:123). There are four inner cores of Transcendentalism. Firstly, it stresses the power of intuition, believing that peop

33、le could learn things both from the outside world by means of the five senses and from the inner world by intuitions. But the things they learn from within are truer than the things they learn from outside. They hold that everyone has an access to a source of knowledge that transcends the everyday e

34、xperiences of sensation and reflection. Secondly, it takes nature as symbol of the spirit or God. All things in nature are symbols of the spirit, of Gods presence. “Nature is, to them, not purely matter. It was alive, filled with Gods overwhelming presence”(Chang, 1990:57). Everything in the univers

35、e is viewed as an expression of enlightenment towards human beings. Therefore, it can exercise a healthy and restorative influence on human mind. Thirdly, it emphasizes the importance of the individual and believes that individual is the most important element in society and that the ideal kind of i

36、ndividual is self-reliant and unselfish. It holds that there is a greatness in all human beings that needs only to be set free. People must depend on themselves for spiritual perfection. As the individual soul can commune with God, it is, therefore, divine. With the assumption of the innate goodness

37、 of humanity, it holds that the individual soul can reach God without the help of churches or clergies. Fourthly, as Emerson envisioned, religion is an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “oversoul.” “The oversoul was an all-pervading power for goodness, omnipresent

38、and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which all were a part”(Chang, 1990:57). It exists in nature and in humanity alike and constitutes the chief element of the universe. It is a belief in the essential unity of all creation. 1.3 The Influence of Transcendentalism on American Literature

39、Transcendentalism is important to American literature. It inspires a whole new generation of famous authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman and Dickinson. Without its impetus America might have been deprived of one of its most prolific literary periods in its history. Transcen

40、dentalism stirs up the climax of the national consciousness in the United States and promotes the national literature towards independence. American literature is an important evidence of the American culture localization. At the same time, it deeply reflects the spirit and the requirement of the ti

41、mes. Emerson is a positive facilitator of the American culture localization whose main contribution lies in his 毕业论文 6 influence on the American national culture. Under the influence of Emerson, many independent and outstanding writers appear in the American letters. These writers put emphasis on th

42、e Americanness and get rid of the imitation. They have made unremitting efforts for the independence of the American literature. The transcendental literature movement under the guidance of transcendentalism pushes the American romanticism to the climax and it also marks the real independence of the

43、 American literature. The transcendental literature movement initiated by Emerson etc. breaks traditional shackles and takes a unique creating way, moving the American romantic literature to the summit. Transcendentalism contributed greatly to the development of American national spirit and the inde

44、pendence of American literature and culture. Now it has become an important part of the thought of the American national literature, influencing and shaping generations and generations of the Americans. 2. Thoreaus Transcendental Naturalism in Walden On July 4, 1845, the Independence Day, Thoreau we

45、nt to live in the cabin built by himself on the shores of Walden Pond, where he practiced his favorable way of life. It was at Walden Pond that Thoreau wrote his masterpiece-Walden; it was at Walden Pond that his thought of nature matured; it was at Walden Pond that he lived the highlight of his lif

46、e. “Thoreau saw nature as a genuine restorative, healthy influence on mans spiritual well-being, and regarded it as a symbol of the spirit”(Chang, 1990:66). It is his firm belief that “natural objects and phenomena are the original symbols or types which express our thoughts and feelings”(Chang, 199

47、0:66). Walden is acknowledged as Thoreaus best-known book and one of the all-time great books. Walden can be many things and can be read on more than one level. In his lifetime, Thoreau fell in deep love with nature and observed nature and studied nature constantly in order to be one part of nature.

48、 In this book, Thoreaus love for nature and persistence for nature is embodied fully. Moreover, his naturalism is abounding in content. 2.1 Being Kind to and Cherish All the Life To Thoreau, “The beauty of nature originates from life, from filling of life spirit”(Yin,2008:41). Nature has life and everything in nature has life. Life is beautiful and nature is beautiful. In Thoreaus thought, everything is a spirit. Nature is full of vitality whic