Call for Submissions to New Promposity Challenge — July /August -Write a Transcendental Piece

The new Promposity prompt focuses on a type of writing rather than a topic.

Transcendent — Beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience, surpassing the ordinary; exceptional, existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.

- Oxford English Dictionary

The Latin verb scandere means “to climb”, so transcend has the basic meaning of climbing so high that you cross some kind of boundary. A transcendent experience is one that takes you out of yourself and convinces you of a larger life or existence; in this sense, it means something close to “spiritual”.

The American writers and thinkers known as the Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, believed in the unity of all creation, the basic goodness of humankind, and the superiority of spiritual vision over mere logic. When we speak of the transcendent importance of an issue such as climate change, we may mean that everything else on earth actually depends on it.

Perhaps, like me, you are a fan of the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. While some find his poetry harsh, I often find it to be beautiful. He frequently turns to nature to display his views of life, the spiritual self, independence, and loss. One of my favorites, Threnody, written about the son he lost to Scarlet Fever when he was just five years old, is filled with the rudiments of New England hills, gardens, and scrub forest which reminds me of the time I spend in Rhode Island and Connecticut. In the grief-stricken language is described the perfectly distinct New England winterscape.

The following passage taken from the essay, “The Poet”, is for me, the epitome of the creative process and what results. It is inspiration, life experience, expression and the outcome not just for ourselves but for others. While it speaks specifically of the poet, I think it can just as easily apply to any type of creative expression:

The poet has a new thought: he has a whole new experience to unfold; he will tell us how it was with him, and all men will be the richer in his fortune. For, the experience of each new age requires a new confession, and the world seems always waiting for its poet.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you read the essay, you will likely see why Emerson was known more for his prose than for his poetry. His poetry formed the basis for a new type of poetry and his prose explained the principles of it.

This was the beginning of the Transcendental Movement. Emerson’s essay “Nature,” published in 1836, presented the Transcendentalist philosophy. In this essay, he expressed the belief that the natural and material world exists to reveal universal meaning to the individual soul through subjective experiences. He promoted the poet’s role as seer, a “transparent eyeball” that received insight intuitively through their perception of nature.

In other words, the most important reality is what is sensed or what is intuitive even if it can’t be explained in words, rather than what is thought and analyzed, such as scientific knowledge. This is the basis of transcendentalism. There are five primary characteristics that are embodied in the movement. These are nonconformity, self-reliance, free thought, confidence, and the importance of nature.

July/August Prompt:

The prompt for July and August is a bit different as it focuses on a style of writing rather than a topic or theme. For this prompt, you are to write a piece that uses the features of transcendentalism. It can be a poem, an essay, a piece of creative non-fiction or any other format you choose. To help get you started here are some steps you can take:

1. Choose a subject — Nature was the main theme of Transcendental writing. You can write about your view of the ocean from your window, your neighbor’s garden that attracts bees by day and fireflies by night, or the still blue lake that no one else seems to know about but you. Your subject doesn’t have to be nature. If you live in a more urban environment try an object you come into contact with regularly or have seen for the first time. The worn wooden bench which is all that is left after the hurricane swept through, a street lamp whose light was changes from the calming, pale orange to the glaring brightness of the very sun itself. Your purpose is to establish rapport with the universe, to find your own sense of spirituality in something ordinary. Choose something that strikes you personally as beautiful.
2. Select a format — You can write anything you choose. If you prefer personal essays or creative non-fiction try to apply the concepts of transcendentalism to a topic you are interested in which reveals a sense of spirituality or connection with what is beyond what can be discerned with the mind. If you’d rather write a poem, try to focus your lines, your voice and the imagery you use on the subject at hand. If you want to use a rhyme scheme, try something simple, like rhyming the second and fourth lines of each stanza.
3. Let your imagination run free — Transcendentalists believed imagination and intuition were greater than reason and logic. Once you’ve decided on a subject and format, unleash your imagination. Don’t hesitate to wax poetic. Use figurative language, metaphors, and similes to find the resemblances between your subject and what you perceive to be spirituality. Focus on how your subject transcends the mundane, the ordinary. The more vividly you write, the more sublime your satisfying and joyful your experience will be.

In addition to nature, here are some other themes you may want to use:

• The meaning of individuality
• Civil Disobedience
• Self wisdom
• Social reform
• Carpe Diem (Seize the day)
• Life and death
• An epiphany you had
• The nature of the soul
• The role intuition plays in your life

Or just go with one of the key characteristics of transcendentalism:

• Nonconformity
• Self-reliance
• Free thought
• Confidence
• The importance of nature

If you are stuck, pick a quote from a transcendentalist piece of writing to prompt your imagination. Try Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Margaret Fuller, William Cullen Bryant, George Ripley, Louisa May Alcott or any other transcendental writer that strikes your fancy.

Still stuck? You can explain your own personal philosophy in relation to transcendentalism, what elements of the philosophy you might embrace and those you would reject.

To get you started, here is my response to the prompt in the form of a poem:

Here are also some additional resources to provide examples and help prompt your imagination:

Essays & Short Stories:

Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walden, Henry David Thoreau

On Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau

The Brothers, Louisa May Alcott

The Artist of the Beautiful, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Old Poets, Walt Whitman

Poems:

Song of Myself from Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman

Give All to Love, Ralph Waldo Emerson

It Is Not Always May, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Thanatopsis, William Cullen Bryant

Each submission should include a royalty free image with the appropriate credit listed below.

***Please also be sure to share the inspiration by TAGGING THREE OTHER WRITERS at the end of your article. ***

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