The Romantic Sublime

In “Walden”, Thoreau talks about his experience living at Walden pond for what he said was two years, two months and two days where he for the most part, isolated himself from civilization and supported himself with the help of no one else.

Walden expresses the desire to connect with nature differently then “Rip Van Winkle”, and “Thanatopsis.” It may not have the whimsical story or a spiritually deeper meaning,

The mention of “Walden Pond” in stanza three by the white woman is linked in the Indian’s mind to “there are five Walden Ponds on my little reservation out West and at least a hundred more surrounding Spokane,” in stanza four. These larger images once again demonstrate the incapability of the white Americans to look deeper into other cultures and their sites surrounding them. The only reason the white woman recognizes Walden Pond is because it was made famous by a white American, Henry David Thoreau who wrote a book about his life in a house next to the pond, in which he takes on a simplistic life which mimics the Native American Indian life style. The Indian on the train, is unimpressed by this because he states that “I know the Indians were living stories around that pond before Walden's grandparents were born and before his grandparents' grandparents were born.”These lines display a certain amount of disdain by the Indian for what the white Americans believe to be historically important it

To bring his essay to life and make vivid description to the Walden Pond. Thoreau's writing style is dense with metaphor, and filled with sentences that pile on observation after observation, and reflection upon reflection, until, before you know it, you've gotten to the end of the paragraph without crossing nary a period. Not surprisingly, his main source for metaphor is the natural world around him. When he's describing nature, he often personifies or anthropomorphizes what he sees, as if all the animals, birds, plants, and even the pond have distinct personalities. Thoreau uses the rebirth metaphors to show that a better animal, or self, is achieved through internal growth. The narrator's bathing is also a rebirth metaphor, washing away the dirt and dead skin, he reveals a clean,

Ancient Greek Philosophers, such as Aristotle and Socrates, were renown for challenging societal norms and striving for individual achievement. Similarly, Henry David Thoreau endeavored to experience a fulfilling life, while also questioning the contemporary values of the nineteenth century. In 2015, Kathryn Schulz, a staff writer at The New Yorker, wrote “Pond Scum,” a fiery indictment against Thoreau and his novel Walden. Schulz uses her prodigious talent for wordplay and literary deconstruction to make her case that Thoreau was a hypocrite and a misanthrope. Yet, Schulz’s argument falls flat by focusing heavily on oversimplification. “Pond Scum” provides a fresh opportunity to replace the common idea of Thoreau as a wilderness hermit, with an image of a more complex and contradictory person to be admired. Thoreau should be praised for attempting to balance his transcendental beliefs with the joys of living, and finding a way to live a richer life.

We can’t live without nature. It’s our home and way of life. Henry David Thoreau wrote a piece about Walden Pond in the springtime. Thoreau discusses how nature has so much to offer. His use of anaphora, diction, and imagery helps to show not only his love for nature, but the impact it has on us.

As society begins to stress conformity and strict religious practices, transcendentalist Thoreau argues for an alternative way of life that coincides with nature in his article “Walden from Solitude.” He effectively builds his argument by addressing a spiritual void in society through emotional appeals and his own logic. Thoreau commences this section by acknowledging the beauty of his cabin in Walden in what seems to be a “delicious evening” (Thoreau, 105). In this example of synesthesia, Thoreau attempts an emotional appeal by making the setting appear desirable as if it were a savory food. By establishing this attractive environment, the author effectively draws the reader in and has them already experience their own connection towards

A Comparison of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Beliefs concerning Simplicity, the Value and Potential of Our Soul, and Our Imagination.Henry David Thoreau tests Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas about nature by living at Walden Pond, where he discovers that simplicity in physical aspects brings deepness to our mind, our soul to its fullest potential, and our imagination to be uplifted to change our lives. These two men believe that nature is what forces us not to depend on others’ ideas but to develop our own. Nature is ever changing so we must keep searching for explanations about human life. They feel that nature is the key to knowing all.Thoreau lives at Walden Pond to find the true meaning of life. He wants to experience

Thoreau reflects similar ideas in his description of Walden Pond, which serves as a kind of mirror for Thoreau's life. He determines the depth of Walden in several places and relates this to a man's character. He proposes that one could "draw lines through the aggregate of a man's particular daily behaviors and waves of life into his coves and inlets, and where they intersect will be the height or depth of his character"(319). Thoreau goes as far to say that one can approximate a person's depth of character by simply examining his surroundings. He states that a man with "mountainous circumstances . . . suggests a corresponding depth in him"(320) while "a low and smooth shore proves him shallow"(320). In addition, Thoreau describes "the life in us like the water in the river"(350). He expounds on this idea of water flowing down a river just as men's lives progress and flow. When the water runs its course and life comes to an end, Thoreau implies that a mark and memory remain as "far the inland bank which the stream anciently washed"(350). Maclean's concluding remarks are strikingly similar and exemplify Thoreau's belief. In the end, Maclean has outlived his family and friends but believes he can still hear their voices through the river. He writes, "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's greatest flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time . . . . Under the rocks are the words, and some of the

Walden, by Henry David Thoreau describes the events and the thoughts that came to Thoreau all through his time living at Walden Pond in the eighteenth century. Henry David Thoreau was a poet and a theorist who experienced a life of ease so that he could create a relationship between nature, people, and God. His narrative in Walden depicted many themes, for example the significance of the natural world, the implication of development, the meaning of detail, and the connection between the body and mind. He also urbanized many theoretical ideas about living a simple and natural life, and

In Walden, Henry David Thoreau explains how a relationship with nature reveals aspects of the true self that remain hidden by the distractions of society and technology. To Thoreau, the burdens of nineteenth century existence, the cycles of exhausting work to obtain property, force society to exist as if it were "slumbering." Therefore, Thoreau urges his readers to seek a spiritual awakening. Through his rhetoric,Thoreau alludes to a "rebirth" of the self and a reconnection to the natural world. The text becomes a landscape and the images become objects, appealing to our pathos, or emotions, our ethos, or character, and our logos, or logical reasoning, because we experience his awakening. Thoreau grounds his spirituality in the physical

The chapter entitled “Conclusion” is a fitting and compelling final chapter to Thoreau’s Walden. Throughout Walden, Thoreau delves into his surroundings, the very specifics of nature, and what he was thinking about, without employing any metaphors and including none of his poignant aphorisms. However, placed among these at-times tedious sections, come spectacular and wholly enjoyable interludes of great and profound thought from a writer that has become extremely popular in modern America. His growth of popularity over such contemporary favorites as Emerson in our modern era stems from the fact that Thoreau calls for an “ideological revolution to simplification” in our lives. This

Again in Walden, Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” [1854]. It is quite strange that Thoreau had chosen to live in woods purposely. Perhaps one reason can be that he is a transcendentalist but one must not forget that he had discovered about the Walden Pond when he was deliberately living in the woods. However, another possible explanation can be that woods are not dominated or are controlled by anyone, nature lives freely in world. Therefore, a reader can

The summer of 1845 found Henry David Thoreau living in a rude shack on the banks of Walden Pond. The actual property was owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American philosopher. Emerson had earlier published the treatise entitled "Nature," and the young Thoreau was profoundly affected by its call for individuality and self-reliance. Thoreau planted a small garden, took pen and paper, and began to record the of life at Walden.

In 1854 Thoreau wrote the short story "of Walden", eighteen years later from the publication "of Nature" and forty-three years later from the publication of "Thanatopsis. In this work Thoreau presents an