Henry David Thoreau and Romanticism

Romanticism is an effect that emanated from the historic concept of Enlightenment, an idea that largely focused on logic and order. During the Romantic era, emphasis was laid on emotion, imagination, and intuition as the main features of writing. Most literatures during the time were sentimental in their content and written to try to transcend reality. Romanticism disregards civilization and instead attaches much significance to the common man, individualism, and most importantly, nature. This paper looks into the way in which the idea of nature is perceived by Romanticism and how the view is brought out in Henry David Theoreau’s book, Walden.

Romanticism in literature connotes the period between the turn of the 19th century in which writers never paid much attention to restrictions such as rules, order, or rationality. Romanticism is perceived as an effective response to the Enlightenment era, a period with organized events. The response allowed writers to exercise maximum freedom as they explored independence, emotions, nature, and other related ideas (Ameriks 83). The response re...