Cottagecore and Transcendentalism. How Photos of Girls in Flowery Fields Have Roots in a Gentlemen Only Philosopher’s Club.

The cottagecore aesthetic has taken the internet by storm. Our feeds are teeming with photos of flowers, picnics, baking, rolling fields, and girls in flowy summer dresses. The images are a lovely break to the constant onslaught of stressful articles and distressing world events but where does this new craze come from? Why do so many of us seem to be craving the quiet simplicity of nature and stillness right now? 

It is commonly said that the stress of the covid 19 pandemic combined with the necessary stillness it has required of us has awakened this longing for an idyllic, comforting stillness. This may be part of what has allowed this trend of romanticizing a past that never existed to blossom but it’s roots go much deeper.

Historically artistic trends have always flowed back and forth between the two extremes of structure and form to feeling and wildness. Neoclassicism fades into Romanticism which fades into Realism which fades into Impressionism. Each generation gets tired of what the previous generation’s preferences and swings back in the opposite direction. The same could be said for historical periods of music and literature as well as visual art. We constantly teeter back and forth between the extremes of Reason and Emotion. Our efforts as human to balance Reason and Emotions go back as far as Plato in western traditions.*

One major literary and artistic movement that favored emotion took place on the British Isles during the industrial revolution. Romantic Era combated the utilitarian mindset of factory owners and an increasingly prominent urban lifestyle with ideals of beauty, feeling, and a return to nature. It was an antithesis to the rigid utilitarian mindset brought on by industrialization. 

Just as Romanticism began winding down on the British Isles, the colonies experienced a literary and philosophical renaissance of their own. Transcendentalism shares similar characteristics to Romanticism such as appreciating nature and rejecting an overly industrialized life. However, while Romanticism focuses primarily on emotions, art, and aesthetics, American Transcendentalism focuses more on political discourse, simplicity, and rejecting worldly goods. 

The most prominent and well known piece written on Transcendentalism, which unlike Romanticism was conscious of being a movement, is Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. In it he reflects on his time living in simplicity in a place called Walden Pond. Some other writers from the movement include Nathaniel Hawthorne who wrote the House of Seven Gables, a gothic novel in which a girl from the country brings a dreary village back to life in manic-pixie-dream-girl fashion and Ralph Waldo Emerson whose poetry collection Leaves of Grass celebrates nature, contemplation, and quiet. Margaret Fuller, a prominent feminist writer was the only woman amongst them and worked several years as editor and writer for their Magazine The Dial.

A lesser known writer who belonged to the Transcendentalist movement is Amos Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May Alcott the author of Little Women. Louisa, however, was critical of her father’s philosophy. His commitment to poverty and simplicity left her, her mother, and her sisters to fend for themselves to make an income in a male dominated world. This suggests a lack of awareness of the practical ramifications of his intellectual purism.

Similarly, while Thoreau wrote Walden in a period of isolation from society he did so at a wealthy friend’s cottage. Food was brought to him while he wrote and his mother continued to do his laundry. Both scenarios show the limitations of the movement as it was cultivated by those who had the means to survive comfortably at a slower, simpler pace rather than those who needed to work constantly to survive.. 

Similar criticism has been applied to modern movements meant to counter the constant pressure of hustle culture in a data driven society similar in many ways to the industrial revolution. The criticism is valid. Not everyone is able to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. However, that does not negate the value in taking things slow when possible.  Recognizing that one does not always need to achieve more and taking time to experience and appreciate what one already has fosters gratitude and contentment rather than stress and anxiety. 

Another criticism of cottagecore is the supposed hypocrisy of appreciating nature and savoring the moment while posting about it online. However, an aesthetic that represents a state of rest and appreciation of simple things can allow its participants to post about those moments if they enjoy doing so. That enjoyment is part of the appreciation.

In this way allowing these images to exist in a digital space suggests more awareness than the original Tandensendalist movement. The idyllic world flowers and picnics and homemade bread does not claim to actually exist. It’s a place for one’s tired mind to rest before returning to nine to fives and frustrating phone calls with automated voice systems. Society now exists in digital form and in order to interact with it we all must eventually return to that reality in some form or another.

While the popularity of cottagecore may be partially brought on by the isolation of the pandemic and the mental fatigue and stress of an international crisis it is also influenced by the desire to escape the rapid change of the digital world, the collective stress of globalization, and the data driven push of hustle culture.  It cannot be a coincidence that the onset of both Romanticism and Transcendentalism were also preceded by a massive change in technology and push towards standardization and optimization. The natural counterbalance to such utilitarianism is a craving for simplicity and stillness and appreciation of beauty and purposelessness. 

*Presumably other traditions of thought also grapple with the seeming disconnect of Reason and Emotions but, unfortunately, I am less familiar with specific writings of those traditions and would not like to comment on them without further research. If you know of a non-western writer who wrote of this subject please share! I would love to learn more about how other cultures have explored this topic.