Like Emerson, Christopher Pearse Cranch started off as a Unitarian minister. But as his interest in Transcendentalism developed—because of his friendship with Ralph himself and some other Transcendentalists—he dropped the ministry and took on the world of poetry and art.

Even though he's not one of the better-known Transcendentalists, Cranch was an important part of the Transcendentalist group in Massachusetts. His poetry exemplifies many important Transcendentalist themes. Which themes? You've got to have a darn good guess by now—yup, it's nature, individualism, and spirituality.

"Correspondences"

Hey look, the poem title is one of Transcendentalism's fave catchwords! As you may be able to surmise, Cranch's poem has a thing or two to do with relationships. Specifically, the ones between us, God, and nature. The speaker of the poem suggests that we can only really truly know God by studying nature. You can think of it as God being written in nature.

The poem also exemplifies the Transcendentalist idea of "Correspondence." Everything, according to the speaker of this poem, corresponds to everything else. As he states, "everything has its own correspondence/ Folded within it of old, as in the body the soul." Pretty deep, huh?

"I in Thee, and Thou in Me" (in The Poets of Transcendentalism, 1903)

Here's another one that has to do with all the big beautiful links in the world. This one's got a more specific God focus. We are an extension of God, and God is an extension of us. One big happy family. After all, God is our "father," and our "mother," depending how you think of it.

What's important about this poem is that you don't have to look too hard to spot Cranch's familiar emphasis on the idea of "Correspondence." Because the poem's about how we both reflect God and are reflected in Him/Her. That's right, we correspond. So this once again points to the Transcendentalist notion that things mirror each other: in this case, we mirror God, and God mirrors us.

Chew on This

Cranch's poem "Correspondences" deals with that favorite Transcendentalist theme, nature—not to mention all its links to other stuff. And come on, who doesn't like nature? Cranch's speaker in this poem really loves it.

In Cranch's poem "I in Thee, and Though in Me," we can see the Transcendentalist idea of "correspondence" in full action. We mirror God, and God mirrors us. Convenient, ain't it?