Two Kingdoms of Force Summary and Analysis

There is a specific form of romantic pastoralism expressed in American literature of the nineteenth century, and this chapter discusses several responses of well-known authors to the conflict between the pastoral ideal and the new industrialism of the age. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a great deal about man's relationship with nature, especially as mechanization was changing that relationship. To him, nature was the grand provider, giving man all of the raw materials with which men of science could then use to serve all of mankind. To him, acceptance of the growing factory system in New England is a given, the West being preserved for agrarian occupations. Reconciling technology with transcendental thought is rather interesting, given that Emerson's initial thrust was withdrawal from modern society and immersion in nature. He saw, however, the potential of the...