Amos Bronson Alcott was one of the great New England writers during the transcendentalist movement. Between the years of 1799 and 1888, most of Alcott's writing was based on his observations and his outlook on life. During his early transcendentalism writing career, some of his most significant works include, The Doctrine and Discipline of Human Culture, Conversations With Children on the Gospels, and The Dial, which includes his famous "Orphic Sayings." Since Alcott was a teacher, superintendent, and also a dean of different schools, he wrote much about his ideas of education, in works such as, Elementary Instruction, Observations on the Principles and Methods of Infant Instruction, and Record of a School.
Alcott lived in close proximity with two other great transcendentalist writers, Henry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.Ralph Waldo Emerson Some of Alcott's best writing is in characterizing his friends and contemporaries as shown in, Ralph Waldo Emerson: An Estimate of his Character and Genius, Sonnets and Canzonets, and Concord Days. He described his own character in "New Connecticut: An Autobiographical Poem."
One of Alcott's largest accomplishments in writing come from his diaries and manuscripts from "Fruitlands." It was a most faithful attempt to carry into practice the ideal of the transcendent individual. In Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands, he tries to create a utopian place which was typical of transcendentalist writers.
Alcott's second most significant writings would have to be the large number of letters he wrote both to and received from members of his family. These were preserved in thirty-four bound volumes dating from 1814 to 1882. Most of these have been edited into the Letters of Bronson Alcott. An additional seven volumes were destroyed by his daughter, Louisa May Alcott, Louisa May Alcott in her effort to remove the history of her family from the public eye. In addition, his collection contains many miscellaneous manuscripts including ten volumes of pasted letters, newspaper clippings, and photographs concerning him and the important people in his life, and six volumes observing the growth of his children.
Alcott's most significant writings are The Journals of Bronson Alcott. It is a collection of fifty-four volumes covering the years 1826-1882. The journals reflected Alcott's ideas, his struggles and disappointment, his successes and joys, and his interaction with the major trends in American intellectual history. They also provide an idea of the personal characteristics of this complex man, especially his passion for order and neatness. Beginning at age twelve, he rarely ever missed a daily entry so they are a perfect account on the life and history of one of the most influential New England transcendentalist writers.
Works Cited:
Shepard, Odell. Journals of Bronson Alcott. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1938