This article takes on Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville calling them the naysayers among the Transcendentalists. The article enunciates that they brilliantly insisted upon themselves to resist effectively Transcendentalism. Their objections ranged from verbal obscurity to emotional reserve; their strongest shared concern was Transcendentalism's insubstantial treatment of the darker side of humanity. As the article explores, Poe's objections to Transcendentalism included what he considered its naïve reformism and its aesthetic inadequacy. Though Poe was keenly interested in the Transcendent, he was of an opinion that “Frogpondian” or “Bostonian” Transcendence could be problematic. The Transcendentalists of Boston were, to Poe, unreliable enthusiasts and unknowing zealots. Similarly Hawthorne and Melville had taken on Emerson's point of views, Melville's view of the social stringency of Emerson was already evident. His greatest objection to Emerson was his failure to recognize the reality of evil.
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