Thoreau and Transcendentalism

The beauty in the strength of mere words and the capacious impact they cod on the soul of man has been the devotion to many of the greatest poets and writers. The ability to combine elegance with experience and thereupon affect the thoughts of others using only paper and pen has intrigued men for centuries. Each generation produces those who vehemently speak out against injustices by their written words. Henry David Thoreau proved to be the voice of his race and thus changed history by expressing the ideals he believed to be correct, though the majority of the people did not always understand these ideals. "I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations" (H. D. Thoreau). He believed in the oneness of individual souls with nature and with God, which gave dignity and importance to gracious activity and made possible a belief in the power to effect social change in unanimity with God's purposes (Richardson 81). Thoreau tore the veil of conventional thought off from societies clouded eyes. Born on a calm, mid-summer night of 1817 to a family of neither wealth nor importance, Thoreau became exposed to the reality of life at a relatively young age.



His father made pencils in a small shop, while his mother took in boarders. During the destitute winter of 1842, Henry lost his beloved sidekick throne Thoreau, Jr. to a terrible case of lockjaw brought on by a slight, but unattended wound. His death deep affected Henry who then resolved to eulogize his brother's death in a book based on a vacation the two had taken on the hold and Merrimack Rivers. By July 1845, Henry left civilization to live in a cabin he had built on the put down of Walden Pond, where he proceeded to write his tribute to his brother's life, A calendar week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. However, the work which developed as a result of Henry's experiences at Walden Pond, entitled... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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