What are the origins of Transcendentalism in American literary history and their Puritan tradition, please?

Transcendentalism developed by rethinking the abandonment of the Puritan tradition.

Puritanism, which originated in England, had a greater influence on American society. England had a Puritan revolution but did not create a Puritan society; the United States did not have a Puritan revolution but did create a Puritan society, and this influence, in its depth and permanence, has forged the soul of the American nation. The Puritan tradition has served as a red thread that has governed American political and social culture from colonial times to the present day. As a unique source of American culture, Puritanism in the United States has undergone a tortuous development from the surface to the inside, from light to dark, and finally formed a Puritan value system with American characteristics, in a sense, literature is the best witness to this development process. 19th century, American literature began the process of true localization, Romanticism, realism, naturalism literary trends have occupied the American literary world. The influence of Puritanism as a doctrine on social life is gradually weakening, but its influence on 19th century American literature is still evident. This influence, in turn, was mainly reflected in the works of American Transcendentalist writers.

By the influence of European Romanticism, especially with the stabilization of the revolutionary situation and the development of social politics and economy, people were able to re-examine the merits and demerits of Puritanism, and rethink the abandonment of the Puritan tradition in a more dispassionate manner. The Transcendentalists, led by Emerson, took the lead in raising the banner of criticizing Puritanism. The writers of this period, on the one hand, lacked the religious fervor of the colonial pioneers of the 17th century and were unable to write works full of powerful spiritual inspiration, but on the other hand, they still inherited the tradition of moral admonition that arose from the Puritan literature of the 17th century. The Puritan writers, represented by Hawthorne, were heavily critical of the humanly fettering aspects of Puritanism, but at the same time expressed a strong call for Puritan ethics. On the other hand, Melville, the main general of the Renaissance, stood at the demarcation point between the old and the new ideas, and tried to make a complete abandonment of the traditional Puritanism. Therefore, the American literature of the 19th century can be called the literature of the age of criticism and morality from the point of view of Puritanism. From the point of view of the development of ideological trends, /Transcendentalism can still be regarded as a modified Puritanism based on the premise of the view of the inherent goodness of human nature. Although Calvinism, which advocated the absolute depravity of mankind and the belief in the absolute authority of God, gave the Puritans a strong sense of belonging and mission, by Emerson's time, the disadvantages of Puritanism had begun to become very obvious. It was against this background that Transcendentalism revised and criticized traditional Puritanism from both theological and ethical perspectives, as God's arbitrariness and irrationality were no longer tolerated by the New Englanders. In line with this, Transcendentalist literature had a clear tendency to be inward-looking. It advocates moral enlightenment, and strongly promotes the harmony of man's heart and direct communication with God, which makes them have a special preference for nature, because only in nature can man achieve spiritual and spiritual sublimation. Therefore, exploring the relationship between God, man and nature has become an important theme and significant feature of transcendentalist literature. Thoreau's "Walden Lake" clearly expresses the transcendentalists' view of nature: only in nature can man achieve spiritual and spiritual sublimation. On the surface, Thoreau loves nature, pays attention to nature, and enthusiastically explores the root causes of various things, which is true in fact, but he pays more attention to the spirit and inner world of human beings. He lived a frugal life by the lake, the purpose of the highest unity of God, man, nature, the pursuit of the spirit of this far beyond the material enjoyment, which in fact is Emerson's so-called super-spiritual another way of expression, the essence of the spiritual and moral sublimation.

What needs to be pointed out is that with the advent of the age of scientific rationality. The decline of Puritan theology is an irreversible trend. Transcendentalism is not so much a criticism of Puritanism as a salvation out of Puritanism. The advent of the age of reason was accompanied by the advance of the spirit of scientific rationality and the retreat and resistance of religious theological thought. The direct consequence of this confrontation was the gradual narrowing of religious positions and the declining status of God. In the face of the invasion of science into theology, the orthodox Puritans accepted the challenge of the new science to theology and used science to explain the theological problems, resulting in the formation of a new and more radical religious doctrines. Naturalistic theism,,Naturalistic theism, on the one hand, continued to affirm the existence of God, on the other hand, the traditional doctrines of Calvinism, such as / human nature is depraved, man can not be saved, and other dogmas, advocating that the faith will be based on rationality Since the power of science can not deny the existence of God, the master designer, the movement of all things also need to be the first driving force of the impetus of the 0, then, God is still wise, benevolent, and the worship of God is still necessary. The worship of God is still necessary. This is the most fundamental motivation for the transcendentalists, who are based on the philosophy of natural theism, to turn their attention to nature and the human heart.