The nineteenth century presents a diverse array of literature, much of which is shaped by transcendentalist authors. Herman Melville's novels, particularly Moby Dick, which critics often consider his masterpiece, exemplify this transcendentalist influence. Moby Dick was first published in 1851.

Emily Dickinson is a fascinating poet to examine. Her work is compiled in The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1997), encompassing all her poems initially released by Paul Johnson in a three-volume collection in 1955. Although Dickinson’s brief, succinct lines contrast sharply with those of Walt Whitman, she was heavily inspired by transcendentalist ideas, especially her emphasis on nature and longing.

To understand American Transcendentalism, studying William Wordsworth's poetry, a cornerstone of British Romanticism, is beneficial, as these literary movements are closely connected. Wordsworth's Poems in Two Volumes was first published in 1807.

Popular "sentimental" novels of the era, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (initially serialized in 1851 and 1852), present a stylistic and thematic contrast to Transcendentalism.

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. (1998), edited by Clayborne Carson, offers a means to explore the lineage of "civil disobedience" in America that began with Henry David Thoreau.