What is transcendentalism? Transcendentalism is the idea or movement of nonconformity, appreciation of nature and what it can teach us, the value of imagination, and the belief in simplicity. Some of these qualities can be applied to people, but very few people believe in most or all of these qualities. One modern day person who would be considered a transcendentalist would be David Whyte. David Whyte is a zoologist turn poet, and he fits most of the qualities of a modern day transcendentalist.
    David Whyte went to college and got a degree for zoology. He went and lived on the gualapagos islands for some time when he realized that zoology wasn't his passion. He wanted to become a poet and a writer. With his background in zoology and having lived in the gualapagos islands have him a deep and spiritual connection with nature which also shows in his poetry.

   David Whyte is also an author of 3 books along with several poetry books. One of his books is about bringing the "soul" back into corporate America. He wrote about how he was worried that America and corporate companies were starting to view sucess as money, and not satisfaction of their  customers. This is very transcendentalist because he is not using the monetary standards of success.

  One last reason he is considered a modern transcendentalist is because he believes in simplicity. He has been quite a successful writer/poet but he still lives on a small island, in a small house with his family. He could afford a large house in the city, but he lives in the woods where he can enjoy nature and the simple life.