The Transcendentalism movement was the attempt to create a uniquely American form of literature. The movement occurred in the 19th century mostly in New England, around Boston. Transcendentalist deliberately went about creating literature, poetry, novels, and other writings that significantly differed from those in England, France, and Germany.
Transcendentalists were a group of highly educated people that believed in literary independence. The most influential transcendentalists were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Theodore Parker. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a major essayist and poet, Henry David Thoreau was a naturalist and author, Margaret Fuller was a feminist, social reformer, and author, and Theodore Parker was a minister. They believed that there was an ideal spiritual state that 'transcends' physical and empirical state and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religion. They believed that it was important to uphold the goodness of humanity, the glories of nature, and the importance of individualism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson published many writings that encourage optimistic faith in the power of the individual achievement and originality. Nature was a popular topic found in trancendentalists' writing. Many authors were influenced by the trancendentalism movement such as: Hawthorne and Melville. Many authors wrote about individuality and expressed nature as a form of spiritual enlightenment. The trancendentalism movement enlightened readers of the works of transcendentalists and opened their minds beyond ordered religion to take delight in the beauty of nature.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19939/American-literature/42259/The-Transcendentalists
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0849256.html
http://staff.gps.edu/gaither/exam%20study%20guide.htm
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