Biography and Famous Works of Henry David Thoreau, A Man Devoted to Nature
Henry D. Thoreau was a well-known American poet, essayist, and philosopher. He was one of the most famous transcendental writers in American history. He was born on July 12, 1817 and was raised all over Massachusetts but lived most of his life in the small town of Concord. He had a good childhood, although he did suffer from frequent illnesses and injuries. His mother would always say that he was a serious boy and very mature, which was rather unique for his age. Thoreau’s parents were nature lovers and often took him with them on walks around the forest, to pick berries or for a simple walk through nature. Many people say that his parents where what inspired his love towards nature. He finished schooling at Concord Academy and went to Harvard University in the early 1800’s. but became extremely ill and almost did not graduate, he made it through and graduated on Aug 30. 1837 as a Bachelor of Arts.
After graduating, Henry got a job at the school he attended as a kid but that was short lived because he refused to partake in the use of corporal punishment, after being persuaded into “disciplining” the “rowdier” children he quit his job. He tried to find another job, but the country was going through a major economic depression and was not able to get one. He went to work with his father, who owned a pencil factory, just to make ends meet. After some time, he decided to start up his own school in Concord, the place he was born.
He knew he could not do it alone, eventually he worked up the courage to ask his older brother, John, to help him run the school. A couple years later John became ill and could no longer help his brother rub the school, Henry shut the school down because it was too much pressure running it alone.
After some thoughtful thinking he returned to his father’s pencil factory. He didn’t spend much time in the factory because he was asked to be the handy man for one of his neighbors which coincidentally happened to be his good friend/mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was already a famous transcendental writer and Henry took the chance to become Ralph’s protégé after he graduated from Harvard University. After being Ralph’s handy man and living with him for two years, Emerson gave Henry permission to build his own house on a plot of his land. Henry built his house near Walden pond and stayed there for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days in order to experience simplicity firsthand.
During his time at Walden Pond, Henry kept a journal with him, as suggested by Emerson, and wrote what he experienced throughout his stay there. His journal was published as, Walden, the book he is most known for today. His book covered many themes such as nature, spirituality, self-reliance, and the simple life. When he wrote about the simplicity and unity of all things in nature, his faith in humanity, and his sturdy individualism, Thoreau reminded everyone that life is wasted pursuing wealth and following social customs. Nature can show that ‘all good things are wild and free.’ These themes were reoccurring themes in many of his books, they were also very likely to be seen in many other authors works during this time period.
The Transcendental movement was an important step for American philosophy. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that believes in a spirituality that goes beyond the realm of rationality and the material world. Transcendentalists say that the soul in each individual match with the soul that our world has. This means that they believe in a spiritual world that goes beyond any of our senses and that all people have equal knowledge of the world around them. Transcendentalist trust that humans are inherently good but are corrupted by the wicked world around them. They believe that such wickedness should leave people feeling grim and these feelings should leave them yearning to obtain independence. Transcendentalism was introduced to America in the early 19th century by Unitarians, which are people who believe in God but do not believe in the Holy Trinity. In the year 1836, the Transcendental Club was established in Cambridge, the founders of this club consisted of, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gorge Ripley, and Margaret Fuller. Transcendentalism was very popular at Harvard University which happened to be the school that Henry graduated from with a Bachelor of arts degree in 1837.
As a group, the transcendentalists led the celebration of the American experiment as one of individualism and self-reliance. They took progressive stands on women’s rights, abolition, reform, and education. They criticized government, organized religion, laws, social institutions, and creeping industrialization. They created an American ‘state of mind’ in which imagination was better than reason, creativity was better than theory, and action was better than contemplation. And they had faith that all would be well because humans could transcend limits and reach astonishing heights. The Transcendental Club was associated with colorful members between 1836 and 1860. Among these were literary figures Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Walt Whitman. But the most interesting character by far was Henry David Thoreau, who tried to put transcendentalism into practice.
Henry was a great admirer of Emerson, nevertheless, Henry was his own man — described variously as strange, gentle, fanatic, selfish, a dreamer, a stubborn individualist. He looked up to Emerson because he was a Harvard-educated essayist and lecturer himself and is recognized as our first truly ‘American’ thinker. In his most famous essay, “The American Scholar,” he urged Americans to stop looking to Europe for inspiration and imitation and be themselves. He believed that people were naturally good and that everyone’s potential was limitless. He inspired his colleagues to look into themselves, into nature, into art, and through work for answers to life’s most perplexing questions. His intellectual contributions to the philosophy of transcendentalism inspired a uniquely American idealism and spirit of reform.
Henry David Thoreau was a specialist, strictly devoted to the art of writing. He saw his works as a collective unit that showed people what he saw in himself. He wanted his readers to see his work and know that he lived a life full of moral values and aspirations. Thoreau was constantly revising his work because of the value it held to him. He wanted it to be perfect so that it would reflect all that he lived; physically, mentally and spiritually. Thoreau was able to include many different writing techniques in his books, including; irony, exaggerations, personal experiences, paradox, and he was able to manipulate words and use them to his advantage. He also included many mythological references in some of his works, they are not easy to spot the first time around, or when read be an unexperienced reader, once you read over it again you will be able to identify these references.
Thoreau did all he could to translate what he saw in nature and humanity into words that everyone could understand, he worked all his life and was able to put millions of words onto paper and have them published all around the world. When someone reads Thoreau’s books or journals, they must accept the fact that his thoughts on a subject tend to change. The readers can see that he was constantly weighing ideas and was open to many interpretations which made him accepting towards inconsistency.
Thoreau is considered to be one of the most influential and most read American authors, not just in the United states but all around the world, his works are continuously being reprinted in English and in many other languages. Many of his books, like Walden, have been required in college level courses.
