A Comparison Of Henry David Thoreau And Ralph Waldo Emerson?s Beliefs

First, in Walden Thoreau passionately expresses his beliefs about life as a whole. He clearly states that life is too complicated and that one needs to focus on more important matters. Instead of consistently conceding to everyone else’s will, one should live how he likes. One should not attempt to over complicate his life. An individual needs to figure out what is important to him and strive for it. Thoreau went into the woods to find out what he truly desired, as well as, to bolt from public opinion.

Thoreau was a disciple of Ralph Waldo Emerson, another transcendentalist who isolation and nearness to nature. In Emerson’s writings, he believed and stated that all living things have rights that humans should recognize; meaning that humans have the responsibility of caring for nature like it is also a human being. He spoke theoretically of these ideas, not once pursuing of actually testing these opinions, but later Thoreau did so. He spent his time to explore the surrounding ponds, including Flint’s Pond and White Pond. He also spent time walking to other farms

The simple man may be content with just his basic needs—food, water, and shelter. However, most of us want and have a desperate desire for more. Thoreau believed that many people waste their lives on the temporary things like food, fun, and trivial pursuits. If Thoreau thought things were bad in his day he should see us now? Almost everyone I know has fallen into this trap of chasing the next latest fad or gadget. How many of you were eagerly awaiting the launch of Iphone 6? In my opinion, Thoreau was exactly right. We waste ourselves on things that do not matter (cars, clothes, celebrity gossip, tv, MTV, etc.) usually at the expense of things that do matter (our families, our planet, our

By living in the wilderness, he finds true peace and harmony. Like Emerson, he thinks that nature is beautiful, gentle, and everybody should spend time in it. Society corrupts you and distracts you from the wonders that the natural world has to offer. Thoreau used nature to intertwine with his spirituality, such as in Walden when he says “I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did” (Thoreau 6). This was a way for him to become closer to the universe through nature.

Thoreau’s believes in simplicity to reduce problems of “trivial affairs”. In the quote, “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.” Thoreau links simplicity with nature. Thoreau conveys the message that a person can live simply through wisdom and just because the smarter and more successful your life is does not mean that you have to give in to its complexity. By reducing your life’s problems and options into simplest terms Thoreau believes you can live happily and find

This thought process he was having could be part noble and spiritual, but also part dark and savage. He values both sides of himself. Thoreau believes in the importance of the hunt as an early stage in a person’s education and upbringing, noting that intellectual and spiritual individuals then move on to higher callings, leaving “the gun and fish-pole behind.” The danger of embracing one's savage life is that it will control him, separating him from his spiritual life. Even while living in nature, the individual has the capacity to control it, and must live deliberately and strive for a meaningful existence.Which this could be similar to Emerson's idea of the duties of a scholar. Since people are to work for instead of relying heavily on something other than themselves.Simplicity being another on of his main points. Simplicity is the method by which he gains self-reliance. In addition, simplicity supplies the clarity of his response to the beauty he worships in nature and with nature. As a result, he breeds oneness with nature and sees the beauty of his own experiments.To achieve this goal, Thoreau left his home in town and moved to a cabin on Walden Pond. He "went to the woods because he wished to live

Thoreau advocates living simply so people will have less regrets in life. He believes that

Henry David Thoreau begins his novel of Walden with giving a brief summary on where he is, and the philosophy on why he is there. He also describes how he feels about the people in the society and how he will be narrating the novel. In the first few paragraphs he explains how society judges him about his actions on moving out onto the pond. Thoreau makes clear that this is not a permanent lifestyle, but an experiment on life as a whole. Henry David Thoreau explains that people feel like they have to live up to a hidden standard, and that people feel they must own certain things and have certain quantities of other things. He points out that all this does is add worry and trouble to people and that people are wasting valuable life and

Henry David Thoreau will go down in history as one of the greatest influential writer’s and philosophers in American history. Not only was he a smart and intelligent man, but he had such wisdom and determination when he looked at every aspect of life. Thoreau was just an ordinary individual from Concord, which helped the readers relate to him on a more personal level when they read his work. In Thoreau’s Walden, he wanted the reader to understand that you should live life more simple, connect with nature so you can connect with God, and live your life working hard so you do not have to solely rely on anyone.

Emerson as well as Thoreau belief that man by studying nature and examining self can transcend his humanity and become one with god. (Cliff note).For example “There is never a beginning; there is never an end, the inexplicable continuity of this web of God”.(American Scholar) They also believe in god which is creator of men as well as of nature. Both think that everything people have is all gifted by nature and they consider people as host of the earth, nature provide everything to people but people don’t realize it and they destroy nature which is providing them facilities to survive in this universal. “He shall see that nature is the opposite of the soul, answering to its part for part” (American scholar). Both of them write so deep that they force people to think about their opponent

One of Thoreau’s main focal points for this statement is the notion of humans being part of nature rather than a member of society. If a man were to remove himself from his surroundings and become one with nature, he would find much more happiness

Thoreau wants us to live a a life which is more private& inside driven and not much influenced by the outside materialistic world. To do this experiment, he went into the woods in Concord and lived a life detached from mainstream society. He lived in woods on the bare minimum commodities and practiced the art of thinking. However, during his stay in woods, he allowed guests to meet him and he too went to meet society in some

Another one of the most important transcendental ideas that came from Emerson and Thoreau, was to slow down and to contemplate one thing at a time. While going through life, most people concentrate on what had happened in the past, or what will happen in the future. They never take the time to just live in the present. Emerson and Thoreau, managed to be two of the lucky ones and were able to live in the present in the woods, or nature. In nature, people are able to forget about others. They are able to focus on themselves. “These days we go about our lives with so much speed and so much extraneous information that it's difficult to contemplate just one thing, one site, one evening, or morning, one ripple in the pond,” (Gretel Ehrlich). While people are concerned about the past and future, they start to worry about others. And in that time, they are unable to focus on themselves.“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others...” (Kennedy). All of the human kind, needs to stop focusing on what had, and will happen and to take a breath, exhale, and see what is going on around them. See the bigger picture.

Henry David Thoreau was greatly influenced by his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a philosopher and prominent Transcendentalist. Thoreau worked as a caretaker on Emerson’s property during the 1840s. For two years, Thoreau lived in a cabin on Emerson’s property at Walden Pond. There, he wrote the 1854 collection of essays: Walden; or, Life in the Woods. A meaningful and significant quotation from the essay “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” explains Thoreau’s reasoning behind the decision to live at Walden Pond: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (74). Throughout Walden, Thoreau imparts the idea that the independence and self-reliance gained by living simply in nature allow a person to realize innate human tendencies, and in doing so, improve his or her quality of life. Thoreau’s messages can also be applied to today’s world of perpetually increasing access to the ideas and opinions of others through the internet and social media.

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau wrote essays on their ideologies of transcendentalism. Thoreau’s belief in intellectualism, spirituality, and naturalism comes from him reading Emerson’s essays and being close friends with him. Thoreau lived in the woods and wrote Walden around Emerson’s ideals. Together they make up classical transcendentalists who changed the perspective of the world. Emerson seems to be the Thoreau’s ideology stems from Emerson work directly, but while Emerson wrote theories, Thoreau implemented his beliefs into his life. Emerson also speaks mainly of scholars and academic people while Thoreau acknowledges the full scope of humanity. Emerson also views nature as laws and Thoreau view nature as poetic. Thoreau’s work means more than Emerson’s various essays.