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Henry David Thoreau and his ideas of nature
Henry David Thoreau and his ideas of nature
Henry david thoreau major thoughts and life essay
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Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, are perhaps the most influential poets of the transcendentalist era, an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836. To transcendentalist authors like Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, nature plays a very important role and is the often looked at with sharp investigation. In the poems and essays by Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, nature can be thought of as building blocks by which the foundation of human character is constructed. This foundation can be constructed through ones struggle against the natural world or their correlation with it. Thoreau, Emerson and Whitman are different from most spiritual writers of their time because of the way in which each author gathers his beliefs and ideas. Instead of deriving their thoughts from the foundation of …show more content…
religion itself, they derive them from nature. From the lives and works of Emerson and Thoreau traditional religion is rejected for a more solid foundation based on nature. In Walt Whitman’s works traditional religion is rejected for the veneration of the individual self. As the son a Boston minister, Emerson grew up heavily involved in religion. In 1829 he became the pastor at Boston’s second church, however his career in ministry would only last about three years. With the death of his wife caused by tuberculosis, Emerson would resign from the ministry and begin to establish his identity as one of America’s most influential and innovative thinkers. Although Emerson shifted his focus from religion, he still remained a very spiritual person. This shift of focus would play a major role in Emerson’s future philosophy and would help him develop the philosophical vision that he is famous for, which is centered on nature. To Ralph Waldo Emmerson, the physical environment in which we live in is a world with perfect order because it is natural; it was not created by man so therefore it is not altered or contaminated by his ill ideas. In nature, the rules by which Emerson himself lives by can be found, here we can also find the rules in which Emerson advises others to live by as well. Emerson is referred to as the leader of the transcendentalism movement and the first American author to influence European thought. Emerson clearly expresses the concept of Transcendentalism in his essay “Nature.” In this essay Emmerson illustrated how one can gain insight and cleansing from simply experiencing nature itself. In the essay “Nature” Emerson expresses his opinions on the tranquility and power of nature. He talks about nature’s ability to bring out the youth in a person and how nature can give one a sense of awe and reverence rarely found elsewhere. Ones reaction to nature depends largely on the way in which nature is viewed. In “Nature” Emerson discusses how nature can be interpreted more thoroughly through the eyes of a child and not that of an adult. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood (Emerson 216) Unlike a child, a vast majority of adults do not possess the ability to see the world in this way.
Approaching nature with a balance between ones inner and outer senses can enable someone to experience awe while in the presence of nature. Once the proper balance is achieved then one can begin to experience nature and learn from it in the most efficient way possible. In his article “Emerson and the Education of Nature” Bryan R. Warnick describes Emerson’s view of nature as a school that offers “both challenging instructors and an unlimited number of lessons” (Warnick). Warnick also gives the audience some insight into 4 of the ways that Emerson himself learns from nature. Solitude and silence, the development of moral thought, the existence of a greater being who is worthy of respect which creates a sense of worship and finally, by having an educative relationship with nature. The combination of these four elements is key to Emerson and is what allows him to fully experience nature in a spiritual way. Emerson was a man whose mind was full of ideas, many of which would be observed by his young protégé, Henry David
Thoreau. Emerson helped Thoreau in many ways, he found Thoreau work when needed and encouraged him greatly in his writing. Perhaps one of the most beneficial things Emerson ever did for Thoreau was loan him some land on the outskirts of Concord where he would build a hut on the shoreline of Walden Pond, a famous location in his writing. Here Thoreau would spend countless hours tramping through the woods and fishing all the while observing nature around him. In the winter months Thoreau spent his time studying the ice that formed on the surface of many of the ponds in the area. His observations on the crystal structure found in ice prove to be very popular today and help give critics and readers an understanding of Thoreau’s view on nature. In his article “Thoreau and the Science of the Transparent” Eric Wilson studies these observations made by Thoreau. Beholding the morning frost, he sees through the shimmering lattices to the primal crystalline form organizing the amorphous force of life. He realizes: the crystal is not only in the ice but also in trees, birds, and men. Hence, everything, properly viewed, is a crystal-a transparent portal through which one might discern invisible powers crisscrossing the cosmos (Wilson 32) Wilson’s observations on Thoreau’s studies are quite detailed and offer a greater understanding of Thoreau and his philosophy. Many of the things he observed while living in the hut near Walden Pond including the observations on ice previously studied by Eric Wilson, would be written in journals and used as the foundation of one of his most famous works, “Walden”. In this publication, Thoreau would show his passion for nature and his amazing ability to observe and record it. Nature is seen as a beneficial force in the works of Henry David Thoreau. If one understands, studies and reflects on nature, then lessons about the meaning of being human are sure to follow. Through intimate relationships with nature, Thoreau constructs his own identification and philosophy. To Thoreau Nature is seen as a library of knowledge containing all that man needs to know. If one is willing to study the messages of nature and apply them to his life, then he will have the keys to living a right life in the natural world. In a journal entry Thoreau revealed that his main goal is to find God in the environment surrounding him. "My profession is always to be on the alert to find God in Nature, to know his lurking-places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas, of nature. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads” (Thoreau 1127). It was almost as if Thoreau could see a glimpse of the divine in almost every aspect of nature. Much like Emerson, Thoreau was more focused on nature and not as focused on religion. His spiritual life was a quest for a direct spiritual experience, and Thoreau made it his goal to live a “glorious existence.” Thoreau’s idea of such an existence was to live in direct contact with nature. Thoreau considered nature his church and justified this by stating that nature teaches better than anything else. Thoreau preferred spending his Sunday mornings in the wilderness wading the Concord River while his friends and neighbors were sitting dry in their church pews. Through natures teaching Thoreau argued that one can experience the “interconnectedness of all reality and the spiritual unity of the cosmos.” Walt Whitman is yet another significant name in the history of transcendentalism. Much like Emerson and Thoreau, Whitman was highly fascinated by nature and the lessons it offered to mankind. A reoccurring theme in Whitman’s poems is that all humans have something to learn from nature because we belong to it. In the poem “Song of Myself” Whitman boldly asserts that he is both in and of the world, and that he fully understands the world because he has immersed himself in nature. The works of Walt Whitman were primarily poems, many of which were free verse. Whitman differs from Thoreau and Emerson in his view of Religion in that Whitman was a man of exploration and ingenuity. This trait of Whitman is what inspired him to envision and create his own private religion. In the words of W.D. Snodgrass, Whitman “set out to create a "new Bible" that would incline his countrymen, through "manly love," toward a more secure Union. In this way he could channel those drives that endangered him, transforming them into an aesthetic, even a philosophy, of inclusion and of spiritual expansion.” (Snodgrass). In his early years Walt Whitman was a Quaker. As a Quaker, Whitman enjoyed the teachings of Elias Hicks a friend of his parents. Hicks preached that man’s only duty on earth was to enjoy life to the fullest and stressed the importance of only following the guidance of one’s own soul. These teachings from Hicks formed the very foundation of Walt Whitman’s own religion. In “Song of Myself” Whitman gives full voice to his private religion. He puts aside the traditional Christian ideas of “God” and “soul” and substitutes his own. In the first two lines of section 48 Whitman creates an equivalence between the body and soul “I have said that the soul is not more than the body, and I have said that the body is not more than the soul” (Whitman 1371). Whitman then dethrones god: “And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is” (Whitman 1371). In The following lines Whitman stresses the ultimate importance of the individual self, one of the most solid principals of Whitman’s private religion. Thoreau Whitman and Emerson are each classified as writers of the transcendentalist movement. These three writers deeply admire nature and do not view it simply as a beautiful landscape, instead they look past the superficial aspects of nature in order to find the keys in which to live a right life. Nature plays a major role in the spiritual life of these men, Thoreau, Whitman, and Emerson each derive their spiritual thoughts and ideas not from religion but from nature and the importance of the one’s self.
Thoreau wrote, “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.” The words transformed people’s lives to think more of the why in life and live with a purpose not just do what they are told, which was a driving idea within the Transcendentalist movements. Transcendentalist were hard to define, but perhaps one of the fathers of transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson defines it most gracefully in a speech he gave, “The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine, He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power: he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy”. As Emerson’s key student and self-proclaimed Transcendentalist Thoreau fulfilled these requirements to help further this movement of higher
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature.” The American Experience. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 388-390. Print.
The essay "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson implements the use of many transcendentalist ideas through the use of strong rhetorical language. The core belief of transcendentalism is self-reliance and independence, and it stresses the importance that people need to do things on their own. Emerson uses irony to point out many latent truths about the concept. He also uses personification to show that the world around someone can have qualities of a human. Metaphors are also used heavily in the essay as catalysts to help the reader better understand Transcendentalism.
One of these thinkers was Henry David Thoreau, a transcendentalist. This movement reflected a deeper thought process moving through the country where longstanding ideas were questioned and the role of nature was put into more prominence. Thoreau says, “I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are, grand and beautiful” (Thoreau 34). This speaks to the overall thought process of the budding country and the people who make it up. Seeing things as they are and doing away with excess is a cornerstone of the transcendentalist movement, which took hold of the dominant thinkers of the
In Emerson’s “Nature” nature is referred to as “plantations of god” meaning that nature is sacred. Also mentioned, is that “In the woods is perpetual youth”(#) conveying that nature keeps people young. Therefore, these excerpts show that nature is greatly valued by these transcendentalists. Transcendentalists would likely care significantly about the environment. In contrast, nowadays nature is often and afterthought. Natures’ resources are being depleted for human use, and the beauty of nature is also not as appreciated by modern people as it was by transcendentalists. The threat to nature in modern times contrasts to the great appreciation of nature held by authors like Emerson and
During the time in American history known as the, several poets began to stray from the traditional methods of writing poetry. Among these poets were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. While these writer's led drastically different lifestyles and had drastically different styles of writing, the messages they presented through their writing were often surprisingly similar. Whitman's poem "Song of Myself, No.6" and Dickinson's poem "This quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies" are examples of pieces which, on the surface, appear completely different, but in fact contain several similarities. Indeed, several similarities and differences can be found between these two poems.
“The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine. He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power; he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy.”(Emerson 196). These two lines written by Ralph Waldo Emerson exemplify the whole movement of transcendentalist writers and what they believed in. Though to the writers, transcendentalism was a fight for a belief, unknown to them they could have been fighting for the betterment of human health. The transcendentalist writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson have directly affected the health of modern society through the idea of transcendental meditation. Through modern science, scientists have linked increases in health among individuals through the use of transcendental meditation.
An influential literary movement in the nineteenth century, transcendentalism placed an emphasis on the wonder of nature and its deep connection to the divine. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embraced these principles. In their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, Emerson and Thoreau, respectively, argue for individuality and personal expression in different manners. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson calls for individuals to speak their minds and resist societal conformity, while in “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urged Americans to publicly state their opinions in order to improve their own government.
Transcendentalism is a major concept that originated in New England from 1836 to 1855. It is the idea that people have knowledge about themselves that rises above or goes beyond the five senses. The man credited with leading this revolutionary movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was born in Boston, and used his experience at Harvard and as a Unitarian Reverend to help start this revolution. He eventually would come to the conclusion that the individual is more morally just than religion. He started this shift with his book Nature, which he published in 1836. Nature was a collection of papers, an essay that read like a disjointed nightmare would. This revolution has translated into modern society; however, there are still many aspects of
...ed to an optimistic emphasis on individualism, self-reliance, and rejection of traditional authority” (American 1). The major players in the transcendentalist movement are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. They shared ideas such as self-reliance, and ideas about how there is a divine being that controls every person. They influenced many other writers and they even had an effect on the American society, then and now. Transcendentalism was a philosophy and a way of life. It will continue to be this as long as we have access to the great minds of the transcendental movement.
Emerson starts with a description of one who has the ideal relationship with nature, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood." Emerson is saying that man needs to retain wonder of nature, a quality often lost as a person ages. People become too distracted by petty conflicts that in Emerson's eyes, are ultimately insignificant.
Walt Whitman is Jay Leno and Ralph Emerson is Ed Hall. Walt takes the instructions announced by Emerson and runs gallantly with them making beautiful and insightful poetry. Walt Whitman and Ralph Emerson spoke out in an age where society was not ready for such dramatic writers. Whitman uses several of Emerson's topics and styles to be that good poet. Whitman elaborates on the characteristics of a poet, freedom, children, and animals.
In the opening paragraphs of his first chapter, Emerson finds that nature, like stars is always present and creates a reverence in the observer, but is also always inaccessible (14). Emerson also brings forth the idea that not everyone can really observe nature, but one must have the correct mental/spiritual state, as a child might. He discusses the improving aspects one can find in nature - youth, reason, and faith. Intrigued by visual perceptions, he claims that he looses contact with everything but nature becomes a 'transparent eye-ball' and feels that "I am part or parcel of God" (16). Emerson's emphatic words are perhaps the best description of the enthralling emotions of a 'sublime' experience as possible.
Nature in which people of the entire universe mostly depend upon is found as the true source of happiness in their own life. This great spectacle of the nature is what most of the people appreciate a lot. However the development taking place all over the world does not seems that people are now appreciating the creation of the mighty God. To live happily we the people have to be associated with nature as both Emerson and Thoreau believes in order to live a happy life people must learn to live in harmony with nature without destroying the nature. Both Emerson and Thoreau tends to have similar ideas upon the nature. Emerson states that the first important influences upon the mind of human is nature because nature has no beginning and has no ending but it is like a circular power that keep on returning again and again to the same place where as Thoreau believes that the harmony which the people get from the nature is far greater and the law of nature is to give happiness to the people. However the contrast appears when both Thoreau and Emerson have different ideas upon the manipulation of human mind by the nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882), the leader of the Transcendentalism in New England, is the first American who wrote prose and poem on nature and the relationship between nature and man Emerson's philosophy of Transcendentalism concerning nature is that nature is only another side of God "the gigantic shadow of God cast our senses." Every law in nature has a counterpart in the intellect. There is a perfect parallel between the laws of nature and the laws of thought. Material elements simply represent an inferior plane: wherever you enumerate a physical law, I hear in it a moral rule. His poem The Rhodora is a typical instance to illustrate his above-mentioned ideas on nature. At the very beginning of the poem, the poet found the fresh rhodora in the woods, spreading its leafless blooms in a deep rock, to please the desert and the sluggish brook, while sea-winds pieced their solitudes in May. It is right because of the rhodora that the desert and the sluggish brook are no longer solitudes. Then the poem goes to develop by comparison between the plumes of the redbird and the rhodora . Although the bird is elegant and brilliant, the flower is much more beautiful than the bird. So the sages can not helping asking why this charm is wasted on the earth and sky. The poet answers beauty is its own cause for being just as eyes are made for seeing. There is no other reason but beauty itsel...