David_Henry_Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau The life of Henry David Thoreau is characterized by what he believed in, what he wrote, and how he lived. Henry Thoreau was born into a middle class family, went to college at a young age, and spent his life writing in a journal and working to earn his living. He believed in freedom and personal unity. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts (gradesaver). His father was a shopkeeper, and later owned a pencil-making business that brought financial stability (Witherell and Dubrulle). He had three siblings, they were all hardworking; and they even helped pay for his college tuition (gradesaver), which at the time was $179 a year (Witherell and Dubrulle). When he was young his family moved to Chelmsford and Boston (Witherell and Dubrulle); they then moved back to Concord in 1823 (gradesaver). It is noted that his first visit to Walden Pond was at the age of four (gradesaver). Thoreau’s grandfather’s almamator was Harvard, so Thoreau went to Harvard (gradesaver). Thoreau went college at sixteen (gradesaver). At Harvard, Thoreau took four modern languages, took classes such as Math, English, History, and Philosophy, and he also studied Latin and Greek grammar and Composition (gradesaver). He had considered himself a writer already while he attended college (gradesaver). Although he graduated in 1837, Thoreau was able to use the Harvard library for the rest of his years (Witherell and Dubrulle). After college Thoreau returned to Concord, and worked many jobs while keeping his journal (calliope). He stayed with and work as a handyman for the Emerson family (calliope). Thoreau later took up teaching, but got fired, after two weeks, for refusing to beat the children (calliope). After he got fired, Thoreau and his brother opened a school; they closed it a few years later in 1841 (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau now had to earn his living other ways (Witherell and Dubrulle). He had two sources for income, the family-pencil making business and a surveyor (Witherell and Dubrulle). His father started the business in the late 1820’s (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau’s engineering talent had improved the product (Witherell and Dubrulle). He invented the plumbago crushing machine (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau continued to run the business after his dad died in 1859 (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau was a self-taught surveyor (Witherell and Dubrulle). Emerson said that Thoreau had “a natural skill for measuration” (Witherell and Dubrulle). He surveyed house and wood lots (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau was a profound influence on American literature and philosophy (calliope). He was also an artist (calliope). He grew up with the Transcendentalist movement, and allied himself with the ancient tradition of ascetics (Witherell and Dubrulle). His life-long friend and mentor was Ralph Waldo Emerson (calliope). When Emerson wrote “Nature” Thoreau was only nineteen years old, and still in college (Witherell and Dubrulle). The conviction of immanence enabled Thoreau to write “Civil Disobedience” (Witherell and Dubrulle).In which he spent a night in jail just to act out against an unjust war and inhuman institutions (calliope). Thoreau was respected but he was always a particular individualist (Witherell and Dubrulle). He didn’t care for group activities and avoided reform movements (Witherell and Dubrulle). Although Thoreau was fascinated by technology, he believed it provoked an excitement that distracted from the important questions of life, which brought him to nature (Witherell and Dubrulle). Nature was the initial thing that enriched his live, and his studies from nature enlivened his ideas (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau was an expert at botany and on wildlife. He was also a member of the Underground Railroad in the 1850’s. Thoreau will always be remembered for his humor, his way with children, and his love of music. He had a long, emotional life and a high-minded principle that may have nourished his art and sparked his actions (gradesaver). Thoreau had a long writing career and included Walden, which is one of my favorites of his works. Thoreau wrote “A Week on the Concord and the Merrimack Rivers” in 1849, “Walden” in 1854, “The Maine Woods” in 1863 and certain essays such as “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” in 1849, “Slavery in Massachusetts” in 1854, and “A Plea for John Brown” in 1859, and many other essays (Alexander). Walden is devoted to the way most people live, spending all their time and energy working to acquire luxuries does not lead to human happiness and well-being. It states things like how nature is more fulfilling than that of a human companion. He also describes Walden Pond and the people around it (Smith pg.324-327). Thoreau meets many people at Walden Pond, some of which are living there and some that are fictional. There are a few key figures like the Irishman and the previous slaves. He mostly just relates his life to those of the people around him. There are three different themes in the book of Walden. He stated that God, humanity, and nature are all unified (Smith pg.329-330). He stated that solitude is needed to experience openness with nature (Smith pg.329-330). Individualism in the book of Walden was closely related to Thoreau’s Transcendentalism (Smith pg.329-330). The style of the book of Walden is first-person narration, in which Thoreau narrates the entire story. Walden is a very descriptive book. It is rich in densely descriptive passages that make use of so much figurative language and imagery that they are poetic (Smith pg.330). Charlotte Alexander believed that Thoreau’s essential theme is life (Alexander). Joseph R. McElrath believed that Thoreau was deadly serious when he took up a pen (McElrath). Robert Louis Stevenson believed that Thoreau’s face was conveyed a hint of the limitations of his character (Stevenson). Harold Bloom believed that Thoreau revised Emerson with passion and cunning (Bloom). Steven P. Olsen believed that Thoreau was one of America’s greatest writers and thinkers (Olsen). Henry David Thoreau wrote books and essays that could completely change the way a person looks at life. He lived working only to make money to survive, and he loved all the little and more precious things in life. He believed that children lived the perfect way, only out of necessity.