Jasper Francis Cropsey's "Fisherman's House"

[viveks02]

From the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, a definition of Transcendentalism can be formulated. This definition can be formed by joining together several overall themes in the works of the two American ideologists. First is the idea that the individual must go beyond the constraints of society that one must set apart oneself from the norm in society. In his essay Self-Reliance Emerson writes, ‘Insist on yourself; never imitate’ (35) and ‘Society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other’ (36). Emerson criticizes society in this essay and makes it clear that individuals must transcend the negatives of society and take the repercussions in stride since, ‘For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure’ (24). There is also the theme that to discover oneself, one must have solitude in nature. In his address commonly referred to as The American Scholar, Emerson writes that ‘[the world’s] attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself’ (6). Thoreau in his essay Solitude says that, ‘While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons I trust that nothing can make life a burden to me’ (202) and ‘I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude’ (205). These excerpts show the emphasis placed on delving into nature and that this is the only way to understand one’s own self. The final concept of Transcendentalism is the idea of the over-soul, that Man, Nature and God are all equal and connected. In The American Scholar Emerson says, ‘that there is One Man, - present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty’ (1).He then makes the connection between Nature and Man when he says, ‘the world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature’ (13). And in his essay, The Over-soul Emerson shows the triple connection when he says, ‘Let man, then, learn the revelation of all nature and all thought to his heart; this, namely; that the Highest dwells with him; that the sources of nature are in his own mind’ (63).

Jasper Francis Cropsey’s oil on canvas painting “Fisherman’s House, Greenwood Lake” is a good representation of the transcendental ideals. It depicts the unification of man and nature, while nature shines forth in the full strength of spring. The fisherman’s house, which is crudely constructed of natural products, stands alone with no other signs of society and civilization, solitude in nature. These themes in the painting represent much of what Transcendentalism is all about as outlined in the previous paragraph.