The New England Renaissance took place from 1840 to 1855. The word renaissance signifies rebirth. It was a period of time in which many aspects of England’s culture bloomed. England experienced growth in spirituality, philosophy, and literature.

The Civil War had a major impact on people’s lives. It made many people feel depressed. “Hawthorne was deeply distressed by the looming Civil War.” (Bloom 13). As a result he moved to England. His thoughts and feelings motivated him to write. The New England Renaissance brought a great deal of change in many different areas.

Industrialism was an important change that had a serious effect on everyone. Everyone was pleased with the great advancement in technology. However, Hawthorne was not very fascinated by industrialism. As a matter of fact he saw New England breaking up as a result of industrialism. A group of people known as transcendentalists felt the same way Ha

omnipresence…a God known to men only in moments of mystic enthusiasm, whose visitations leave them altered, self-reliant, and purified of petty aims.” (Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience 251).

Hawthorne saw the New England Renaissance as a time in which people experienced intense individualism and self-reliance. He saw it as the dying of Puritanism (Swisher 58). “Hawthorne, the skeptic with a moral obsession, raised New England Puritanism—not the theory, but the practice and still more the results in mind and spirit—into art. This lies behind his style.” (Swisher 63). Hawthorne’s manner in writing expresses his feelings on Puritanism and The New England Renaissance. His works convey his transcendentalist notion. His stories included evil characteristics and moral responsibility and its connection to man’s destiny in nature and in eternity. Unlike other transcendentalists, he had a darker vision of the world and did not possess a deep faith in human potential. His writings exposed both the beautiful and terrible world humans have created.(Bloom 11). One specific example that reflected Hawthorne’s view on the New England Renaissance is the character Mr. Medbourne in the short story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” from the book Twice Told

“For transcendentalists the point was that the real truths, the fundamental truths, lay outside the experience of the senses, residing instead in the oversoul…a universal and benign

Some topics in this essay:
England Renaissance, American Experience, Transcendentalists Hawthorne, Youth Medbourne, England Puritanism�not, Civil War, england renaissance, Heidegger’s Experiment”, War” Bloom, Puritanism Swisher, Nathaniel Hawthorne, heidegger’s experiment”, “dr heidegger’s, “dr heidegger’s experiment”, transcendentalists hawthorne, rejuvenated medbourne, view england renaissance, view england, materialistic objects,