Essay The Incredible Henry David Thoreau - 1081 Words

By the year 1840 the concept of Independence had been forever embedded in American tradition and American government. The value of freedom had yet to be accepted nor granted peacefully. The Revolution released America from the grasp of Britain and it would take yet another war to release the black man from the shackles of slavery. America was still in its infancy; the West was not yet settled, the South was still a confederacy and unity was just a dream. The country was torn by slavery. And some men began to question the integrity of their government. Henry David Thoreau was one such man. Henry Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts to a successful pencil manufacturer John Thoreau and a strong-willed, quick-witted mother,†¦show more content†¦Surrounded by great minds like Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thoreau traded philosophies and refined his own continuing to write, all the while being pushed by his contemporaries to lecture and write until finally he traveled to New York. His stay would not last long. The hustle and bustle of the big city exemplified the countrys materialism and disgusted Thoreau. He promptly returned to Concord where he built a small cabin on Emersons land alongside Walden Pond. For two years he experimented with farming and writing, and studied nature. Meanwhile, the country was at war with Mexico over the rights to Texas. One night in July1846 Thoreau spent a night in the Concord jail for refusing to pay the poll tax, which helped to finance the war with Mexico. Its safe to say that Henry did a great deal of thinking that night. In the future this night would be celebrated as the most important night of his entire life. Thoreaus beliefs as a transcendentalist are well known; a striving to attain spiritual connections between God, Nature and the human Mind, but it is his personal philosophy of an interconnectedness of all things in nature including human beings that awakens him to the idea of independence. In Walking he describes how in wildness is the preservation of the world#8230;the most alive is the wildest. Meaning that humans all have a wild savage in us that pulls usShow MoreRelatedWalden By Henry David Thoreau843 Words   |  4 PagesEveryone sees the world through their own eyes. Not two people can see something in the exact same way or interpret it the same way. They can each have their own opinion about the subject. In â€Å"Walden† by Henry David Thoreau, he has a very individualistic view on nature. In â€Å"Walden†, Thoreau goes out into the woods to try and live his life deliberately. Schneider states, â€Å" In 1845, he received permission from Emerson to use a piece of land that Emerson owned on the shore of Walden Pond.† He staysRead More Comparing Metaphors in Norman Macleans, A River Runs Through It and Henry David Thoreaus, Walden1463 Words   |  6 PagesRiver Runs Through It and Henry David Thoreaus, Walden In Norman Macleans A River Runs Through It, the author recounts the story of his early life growing up in Montana. The narrative revolves around his family and the art of fly fishing. Through the novel, Maclean begins to understand the wisdom of his father, the fierce independence and downfall of his brother, and the divinity and beauty of nature. A similar theme regarding divinity in nature is found in Henry David Thoreaus Walden. BuildingRead MoreHenry David Thoreau Essay3362 Words   |  14 PagesHenry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau was a man who expressed his beliefs of society, government, and mankind while living under his own self-criticism. 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PlatoRead MoreHenry David Thoreau: The Grat Transcendentalist Essay1932 Words   |  8 PagesHenry David Thoreau along with a select group of people propelled the short movement of transcendentalism during the 1830s to the 1850s and was later brought up during the Vietnam War. Many of the transcendentalist ideas came from student who attended Harvard University during this time period. Henry David Thoreau’s individualistic anarchist views on society were developed throughout his early life and later refined in his years of solitude; these views on society and government are directly expressedRead MoreA Simple Life Is A Happy Life896 Words   |  4 Pages A Simple Life is a Happy Life In Henry David Thoreau’s â€Å"Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,† from Walden, the narrator writes about his journey to go live in the woods for two years to learn everything nature has to offer. He encourages readers to follow their own path and live a life of simplicity. Too often people believe that the more materialistic things they have, the better life they will live. EveryoneRead MoreEssay on The Influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson995 Words   |  4 PagesEmerson, but also how significant a role he played in supplying his followers with optimism and confidence in being themselves. Two American authors whose literary careers were inspired significantly by Mr. Emerson were Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. Both Thoreau and Fuller played an equally important role in the development of the transcendental movement, but their careers as writers may have taken a different path were it not for Emerson’s Influence on them. Emerson’s interaction withRead MoreThe American Scholar By Ralph Waldo Emmerson2349 Words   |  10 Pagesdeck†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Already, a sense of togetherness has been established. Everyone, whether it is the boatman, or his deckhand, has a unique and important song to sing. Separate in location, but united through their song of work, these men and women signify the incredible American belief in democracy. Every person has a unique and important voice that is part of the incredibly complex American song. Democracy, by definition, is â€Å"a government by the people† or â€Å"a form of government in which the supreme power is vestedRead MoreDavid Thoreau s Life And The Early Works Of The Poet2145 Words   |  9 Pagesdeath, his travels abroad, his study of Hinduism, and the works of the poet William Blake all have tremendous importance to the development of Transcendentalism. These ideas and his contributions to the movement would also influence most markedly Henry David Thoreau’s short life and the early works of the poet Walt Whitman. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25th, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts to William Emerson and his wife Ruth Haskins Emerson. Emerson attended the Boston Latin School and then wentRead MoreThe Great Traversers By Ralph Waldo Emerson2868 Words   |  12 PagesThe Great Traversers (A detailed look into three transcendental ideas, as presented by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau) In this spirit I have just discovered Emerson. For forty years I have known something about him, of course—that he was a mystical philosopher; the apostle of transcendentalism in America†¦.† (Abbot, lines 9-10). From within the text of the author of this quote, it can be seen the shear praise and gratitude held for a man by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson