Emerson and Embodiment

Adding Norman O. Brown as the fourth corner that squares the triangulation of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman insures that we do not get caught up in a common misunderstanding of so-called "Transcendentalism," i.e., that it is some sort of spooky philosophy that denies the body. Emerson would never have endured Thoreau (who was part mystic, part materialist) or hailed the arrival of Whitman (who sang the body electric) if he had an aversion to fleshly, physical life. Still, due perhaps to his reserved New Englander demeanor, he is frequently dismissed as a promoter of disembodied spirit.

Brown, who stands in the Emersonian line, not only celebrated life in the body but called for its resurrection.