George Ticknor, along with
George Bancroft and
Edward Everett, was one of the first New Englanders to study the new German literature, philosophy, and theology at the University of Göttingen from 1815 to 1817. Later, as a professor of modern languages at Harvard, he inspired many young men to likewise study in Europe. The German influence was extremely significant to Transcendentalism, and Göttingen, owing mainly to the commanding and capable presence of professor
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (1752–1827), was considered
the premier university for biblical studies. Emphasis was placed on the “higher criticism,” a term popularized by Eichhorn, rather than on the more traditional biblical languages and textual studies. Although Ticknor himself seems not to have taken advantage of this education—at least, not in any Transcendental sense—his German experience is important because it stimulated interest in German ideas at a crucial time during the formative years of
American Transcendentalism.