Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: 19 Th Century Brook Farm - 882 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

The Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education, was a short-lived utopian experiment in communal living. "Brook Farm, a cooperative community established in 1841 in West Roxbury (now part of Boston) was a joint-stock company run by leaders of the philosophical movement known as transcendentalism. " ("Perspectives In American Literature Guide" Online) Brook Farm was formed to combine the thinker and the worker. "As thinkers, mankind have ever divided into two sects, Materialists and idealists; the first class founding on experience, the second on consciousness; the first class beginning to think from the data of the senses, the second class perceive that the senses are not final, and say, The senses give us representations of things, but what are the things themselves, they cannot tell, " (Emerson, 91) The guarantee of mental freedom, and a society of liberal, cultivated persons, drew many of the great minds of the time together. Within the framework of the Farm, they lived, worked and created as a communal entity. Their relations with each other permitted a more wholesome and simpler life than could be led amid the pressure of competitive institutions... " (Wilson, 25) Brook Farm was one of many experiments in communal living that took place in the United States during the first half of the 19 th century. It is better known than most because of the distinguished literary figures and intellectual leaders associated with it.

Brook Farm was organized and virtually directed by George Ripley, a former Unitarian minister, and editor of The Dial (a critical literary monthly). Ripley was also a leader in the Transcendental Club, an informal gathering of intellectuals of the Boston area. His wife, Sophia Dana Ripley, a woman of wide culture and academic experience, aided him. According to the articles of agreement, the project was financed by the sale of stock, a purchaser of one share automatically becoming a member of the institute, which was governed by a board of directors.

The profits, if any, were "divided into a number of shares corresponding to the total number of man-days of labour; every member was entitled to one share for each day's labour performed. " (Ripley, 36). Brook Farm attracted not only intellectuals but farmers and craftsmen as well. It paid $ 1 a day for work (physical or mental) to men and women and provided housing, clothing, and food at approximately actual cost to all members and their dependents. For four years the commune published The Harbinger, a weekly magazine devoted to social and political problems. Among the original inhabitants were journalist Charles A. Dana and author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who served together as the first directors of agriculture. "Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Parker, and Orestes A.

Brownson were among its interested visitors. " (Wilson, 25). "The common thread uniting the creative commune was a growing belief in Transcendentalism. " ("Perspectives In American Literature Guide" Online). "In philosophy and literature, the transcendentalist believes in a higher reality than that found in sense experience or in a higher kind of knowledge than that achieved by human reason. (Emerson 90) Nearly all transcendentalist doctrine stemmed from the division of reality into a realm of spirit and a realm of matter. "The transcendentalists were influenced by romanticism, especially such aspects as self-examination, the celebration of individualism, and the extolling of the beauties of nature and humankind. (Wilson 19) In its most specific usage, Transcendentalism was developed in the U. S. in the first half of the 19 th century, through the efforts of the commune at Brook Farm. Brook Farm was noted particularly for the modern educational theory of its excellent school, which sought to establish "perfect freedom of relations between students and teaching body. " (" Perspectives In American Literature Guide" Online). Discipline at the school was never punitive; rather, it consisted of a gentle attempt to instill in the student a sense of personal responsibility and to communicate a passion for intellectual work. There were no prescribed study hours, and each student was required to give a few hours a day to manual labour.

At Brook Farm there was an infant school, a primary school, and a college preparatory course covering six years. (Ripley 36). Although communal living proved to have disadvantages (Hawthorne found that he was unable to write there and left after six months), for a while it seemed that the ideal of the founders would be realized. Within three years the community -- or "Phalanx, " as it was called after 1844, had added four houses, workrooms, and dormitories. It then put all available funds into the construction of a large central building to be known as the Phalanstery. The Phalanstery, a combination of the words monastery and philanthropy, burned to the ground as its completion was being celebrated. (Wilson 19). Though the colony struggled on for a while, the enterprise gradually failed; the land and buildings were sold in 1849.

Ripley, George. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: Putnam, ! 907. Vol. 15 Prt. 1 Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Emerson on Transcendentalism. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1986.

Wilson, Leslie. "New England Transcendentalism. " The Concord Magazine Reuben, Paul. " Perspectives in American Literature Guide. " (Online). Available- URL: web 05 / 04 / 00 Bibliography:


Free research essays on topics related to: brook farm, american literature, 19 th century, ralph waldo, first half

Research essay sample on 19 Th Century Brook Farm

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com