Thoreau and Transcendentalism Essays

Henry David Thoreau’s words that “disobedience is the true foundation of liberty” and that “the obedient must be slaves” is a political statement that never lost its topicality during the Romantic era. Thoreau served as an important contributor to the philosophical and American literary movement known as New England Transcendentalism. Nature and the conduct of life are two central themes that are often weaved together in his essays and books that were published in the Romantic era of literature. Thoreau brought these two themes together to write on how people ought to live a simplistic life through embracing nature. His naturalistic writing intertwined cataloging and observation with Transcendentalist views of nature. Through his life and

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil” -Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self Reliance. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist. Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that originated in the 19th century and was primarily influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalists’ main beliefs are: self-reliance is essential to one’s life, nature is divine, every person should have an optimistic outlook, and humanity needs to adhere to their personal morals and beliefs. In today’s world we still see a multitude of the beliefs of transcendentalism.

Henry David Thoreau had become fascinated with his friend’s, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transcendentalism ideas. Ideas such as humans being born naturally good and society and government corrupting that purity and making us more dependent on one another and things. Thoreau had built a one-room cabin at Walden Pond where he had lived alone for about two years. In Thoreau’s “From Walden”, he has discovered that simplicity is the key to living in life. He expresses to “let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of one million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail”(218). Don’t overbear yourself with so much work and forget to live. If you live simply, you’ll enjoy what’s around you. Sometimes people are all caught in society’s bubble that they don’t realize what they have. Materialistic things aren’t always important and having everything isn’t what it seems to be. “The faultfinder will find faults even in paradise”(Thoreau 221). No matter how many things one has, they’ll always

Why is solitude looked down on society? It should be advised by people to start engaging in the concept of solitude. Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless were both transcendentalism that believes in the key fundamental idea that the human body should partake in such as solitude. Henry Thoreau was a transcendentalist that practiced the form of solitude throughout his life. He left society and moved into the woods to be removed from the confines of society. Along with Thoreau, a more modern-day transcendentalist was known as Chris McCandless. McCandless journeyed to the wilderness in Alaska to be able to experience a minimal amount of human interaction along with the solitude that comes with it. The concept of solitude should be

Transcendentalism, or the belief that there is a direct connection between a man’s individual soul and nature, was a very avant-garde movement throughout its peak; although now, American society continues to grow increasingly distant from it. These ideals are reflected in the works of Henry David Thoreau and Jon Krakauer, as well as the life of Chris McCandless. Throughout Thoreau’s novel Walden he distinctly preaches the belief that in society, men have become more focused on work and material possessions than life’s simple pleasures and freedoms. In the same manner, Krakauer and McCandless both draw inspiration from Thoreau, and ultimately share spiritual experiences throughout their adventures, both seeking to find life’s true purpose. Although many will argue that transcendental ideas and culture are outdated and have no place in today’s humanity, transcendentalism itself, and the ideals possessed by Henry David Thoreau and Chris McCandless have played a major role in American society, in that they appeal to the spiritual side of every man, which accredits to the belief that only life’s bare necessities are required in order to live a fulfilled life. However, it is unfeasible to live a transcendental lifestyle in today’s insatiable, consumerist society.

Along with McCandless’s view, we see another interpretation of transcendentalism in HDT’s “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau believed that society has become too dependent on government and it should be less involved. Thoreau states his motto as “that government is best which governs the least”(1). This shows his strong belief that government

In the play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by authors Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, we see Henry David Thoreau locked in jail because of his unyielding will to not conform to the government or society's expectations, when their expectations are unwholesome. During his time spent in jail we see the idea of transcendentalism develop through Henry’s belief that even though he’s is locked up he is more free than any freeman could ever hope to be. Just as it was relevant in Thoreau's lifetime, freeing yourself from society’s norms /freedom from the government, transcending yourself, and being individualistic are all still important now.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds… With consistency a great soul simply has nothing to do.” (Emerson)

Henry Thoreau’s masterpiece, Walden or a Life in the Woods, shows the impact transcendentalism had on Thoreau’s worldview. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual over the material. Transcendentalism puts the emphasis on spiritual growth and understanding as opposed to worldly pleasures. Thoreau’s idea of transcendentalism stressed the importance of nature and being close to nature. He believed that nature was a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. A walk in the woods therefore was a search for spiritual enlightenment. One should look ‘through’ nature, not merely ‘at’ her.

The philosophy of Transcendentalism, according to the article “Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy” is believed to have been created and led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which is why he is considered by many literary scholars and historians to be the father of Transcendentalism. Throughout the years, this philosophy attracted other artists and thinkers such as the American Romantic novelist Henry David Thoreau. These prominent and poetic individuals created an insight for this movement, believing in the true and significant values of individualism, minimalism, and spirituality in their lives. These specific aspects can be found in Thoreau’s most famous work, and Transcendentalist staple, Walden. This novel was a reminiscence of his life

Henry David Thoreau, a name heard endlessly by American Literature students, has contributed his outrageous views to society even after his death. Lectures and texts let his perceptions live on through teachers and professors that are all agreed on the significance of his writing to the transcendentalistic period. Definitely worth the merit he receives for his contributions, Henry Thoreau's views are nonconformist and thought provoking. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away" (Thoreau, 14). Thoreau himself marched to a different drummer, and it is this aspect of all great men that

Thoreau did not only suffer from unfounded superiority, he was also an extreme hypocrite who failed to live up to the expectations he set for the rest of man. For instance, one of Thoreau’s fundamental ideologies included his belief that in order to live a good life people needed live in nature, freeing themselves of everything except the necessities. This fundamental transcendental idea, one that was discussed extensively by Ralph Waldo Emerson and

Thoreau wishes to “live deliberately” (337). He did not want to think that he was not living his potentially best life. Thoreau “wanted to live deep and […] live so sturdily and Spartan-like” (337). He desires to know that he is alive thanks to his doing and thinking. Due to his actions, he is able to have a normal, balanced life. He does not need any help from modernized devices, he only requires his hands and mind. If he were to look at society today, he would notice that people use everything other than their hands to get work done. Devices like the microwave and cars and

Thoreau wished to open the minds of many revealing the importance of nature “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails” (Thoreau II). In the quote, Thoreau discusses how he learned to live deliberately in nature encouraging other members of society to do the same. He has learned that it can lead to harmonization with oneself, to

Although Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau shared similar views and beliefs relating to Transcendentalism, the approach each author took in writing and making the ideas that were so important and concrete was not always so closely related. Thoreau's argument calls for less government and more independence while Emerson's consistence need for more self-reliance and independence from others. Thoreau viewed God as the higher authority over government, “The church is a sort of hospital for men's souls and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies.” (Walden) In "Self-Reliance," Emerson express the idea that the individual should be completely reliant on God. “When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet