...English 2327.003 November 1, 2012 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Where I Lived, and What I Lived For is the title of the second chapter in the book Walden on Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. The first part of this chapter explains how he built a hut near the forest of Walden Pond close to Concord, Massachusetts where he could gather his thoughts away from society. Thoreau writes in Walden: "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" (Thoreau 1028). Thoreau was an educated man who chose to live in poverty to explain to his readers that life can be as simple as nature. According to some critics, life cannot be as simple for various reasons: “This is contrasted to the human society from which he isolated himself, of whose utilitarianism, materialism, and consumerism he was extremely critical” (Environmental). In order to agree with Thoreau, one would need to have the same open mind and the ability to see and think outside the norm of society. Those who disagree with Thoreau do not believe that one can still “live deliberately” (Thoreau 1028). The critics clearly see that living such a simple life as Thoreau writes about is impossible. Life cannot be as simple as nature for many reasons. One reason is the outcome of life is not always simple. Thoreau wrote about the outcome of planting...
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...Writing Your Own Rules: Living deliberately in Thoreau Walden Henry David Thoreau once stated, “Why should we knock under and go with the stream? Let us not be upset and overwhelmed in that terrible rapid and whirlpool called a dinner, situated in the meridian shallows” (Thoreau 909). Thoreau has a very strong perspective on transcendentalism. Becoming a transcendentalist offers the right to trust one own intellect. Therefore, this quote demonstrates that Thoreau express to his audience the importance of being one’s self and not following society’s standards. Transcendentalism is referred to as society versus oneself. Henry David Thoreau believes learning to trust one’s individual intuitions and becoming a non-conformist allows individuals to live a more deliberately life. Henry David Thoreau used his selection, “Where I Lived, and What I lived For” to demonstrate how the changes of society serve as a distraction to an individual. Although, Thoreau was a non-conformist, he never stated it he allowed his actions to speak for him through his work. Thoreau notes, “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails” (909). Due to the many changes of society, people always try...
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...Transcendentalism took off in the 1800’s with a little help from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickenson. These transcendentalists expressed their beliefs through writings such as poems and essays. These few transcendentalists went out of their way to represent their ideals and beliefs. Only a number of people understood the idea of transcendentalism because it is so complex and involved a much deeper thought process. It was this complexity within Transcendentalism that makes it stick out in history still to this day. Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England. Transcendentalism was developed in reaction to rationalism in 1836. It taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity. The transcendentalist members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the better known transcendentalists, became a transcendentalist in 1832 which lead to the writing of “Self-Reliance” and “The American Scholar.” He later became the central figure of his literary and philosophical group, known as the American Transcendentalist. In the 1840’s he founded and co-edited the literary magazine The Dial. In 1841 and 1844 he published essays, including, “Self-Reliance,” “Friendship” and “Experience.” In “Self-Reliance” Emerson writes: A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of...
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...from Walden, “Nature”, and “Self-Reliance” all highlight key aspects of transcendentalism. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau moved to the woods by a pond to live simply and the way he wanted to with nature. In “Nature”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was Thoreau’s friend, writes about how nature brings us back to who we really are. In the excerpt from “Self-Reliance”, Emerson writes about how the only person you can really trust or need is yourself in order to have a simple, happy life. Thoreau and Emerson both believed that in order to have a happy life, you need to live simply. In the excerpt from Walden called “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.” Henry Thoreau writes that he “moved to the woods to live deliberately”. This means he willingly wanted to live in the woods to find himself in nature. He also wanted to “front only the essential facts of life, and see if...
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...last pair of shoes known to man? Buy a private jet to take you where you want to go, or would you invest all of it and continue to live an inordinate lifestyle? With industrial and technological advances emerging, Henry David Thoreau sought a meaningful life not defined by the artificial things that society constantly advertised. To him, discovery was the most important part of life, and without this a person would become so consumed in the world that they lose sight of what is important. Thoreau’s accepted lifestyle brought so much insight and inner peace that he decided to share his ideas with the people of all backgrounds so that they...
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...Paper #2-Walden American Lit. I 15 November 2005 The Serene Depths In Henry David Thoreau’s narrative, “Walden, or Life in the Woods,” the author tells of what his life was like while he lived in the woods of Massachusetts, beside Walden Pond. Among his many descriptions, Thoreau devotes a large portion of his writing to recreating Walden Pond in the reader’s mind, partly to create the setting for his story, but also because he felt genuine awe and love for his surroundings, and he wished to convey that love to others. Chapter nine of “Walden” is aptly titled, “The Ponds,” and in this chapter, Thoreau describes not only Walden Pond, but also some of the other ponds that are in the area where he lived for more than two years. He writes extensively about “the ribbed bottom [of the pond], which was strewn with the wrecks of the forest” (Thoreau, 1899), and waxes poetic about the mysterious depths of Walden Pond. One of the aspects of Walden Pond that he strives to impress on the reader is the sheer depth of the water. Throughout the chapter, and in later chapters as well, he describes a seemingly bottomless lake that is nearly mystical in its appearance. Later in the book, Thoreau reveals how deep the lake actually is, according to his calculations, but in Chapter 9, he does not go into the reality. Instead, he paints a picture of a magical place that has no beginning and no end. This is effective because it reminds the reader of the greatness of the earth compared...
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...nonconformists when it came to organized religion. Their goal was to share a personal sense of spirituality and to tell that everyone had a private relationship between themselves and the universe, better known as 'The Eternal One' theory. Many important authors gained fame form this movement, such as : Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. Ralph Waldo Emerson is often regarded as the heart and soul of the Transcendentalism movement. He left Unitarian church ministry to focus more on physiological and spiritual writing. His first well known essay was "Nature" ; It gave insight to Emerson's view of the natural world, and in it he said that through exploring nature, man would find out more about himself. He also believed it was fundamental that man take a break from the distractions in society and get lost in ones thoughts about the natural world. “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship”. This direct quote from "Nature" embodies the principles of the transcendentalist movement by restating their belief on separation from the church to build a better 'Eternal Self' with the universe and nature. Henry David Thoreau was inspired to start writing with a more transcendentalist view after borrowing a copy of Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, from a neighbor. he was so heavily influenced by this essay and Emerson that he went to Walden Pond, land owned by Emerson, and built his own home. Here, he explored nature to its absolute depths...
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...The iDeal Reader Henry David Thoreau, ‘‘The Battle of the Ants’’ © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2000 Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), transcendentalist essayist, naturalist, editor, and social critic, was born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau graduated from Harvard University and taught briefly at a school in Concord but resigned rather than be expected to strike his students. He ran his own school from 1838 to 1841, teaching Latin, Greek, and science. In 1938 Thoreau also began lecturing, which he continued intermittently, often emphasizing his strong opposition to slavery, but his message was not always well received. Thoreau began his lifelong friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson when he tutored Emerson’s brother William in 1843 on Staten Island, boarding with Emerson and his wife. He helped Emerson edit the Transcendentalist magazine The Dial. Thoreau kept a journal at Emerson’s urging, which aided him in his writing. He took a canoe trip with his brother John during the first two weeks of September 1839, which experience he transformed into a volume of poems and essays entitled A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers (1849). While he published 1000 copies himself, only about 300 sold. On July 4, 1845 Thoreau moved into a cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, on land belonging to Emerson, about two miles from Concord, and lived there alone for over two years. Thoreau condensed this outdoor life as if it were a single year in his...
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...Ten Years in Just 89 Square Feet Jay Shafer and the Tiny House Movement by Antony Taylor For ten years, Jay woke up every morning to his bedroom ceiling, just 3' away from his face. After climbing down from his loft bed into his 6' x 6 ½' living room, he would enter his 4' x 2' bathroom. To most people, Jay would appear to be a prisoner, and the conditions might appear inhumane, yet Jay is not a prisoner, nor has he been forced into these living conditions. In fact, Jay not only chose to live in such a small space, he designed it himself! Jay's house for ten years, the “Epu” is the size of a walk-in closet in most of today's homes, yet it contains a living room, desk, fully functioning kitchen, separate bathroom, and loft bed space. Jay Shafer is the owner of the Tiny Tumbleweed House Company, founder of the Small House Society, an ecological activist, a new-era architect, and a lifestyle revolutionary. His minimalist lifestyle design has been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. He and his tiny house has been featured on “CNN”, “Oprah”, “This Old House” and countless local news stations. Around the country, people are purchasing his designs, attending his workshops, and following his revolutionary example of how to live life with less space and less possessions, resulting in less of a drain on resources and the environment. A Mixture of Motivations Today's economy suffers in part due...
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...has become a true way of life. Henry David Thoreau was one of the first people to bestow in a simple life and produced a true American literature classic from the lifestyle. Walden gives us detailed insight on Thoreau’s beliefs and what it was like for him to live in the woods. Thoreau had many reasons for wanting to go and live in the woods. One of the reasons was to live a simple life, Thoreau wanted to create a lifestyle without all the luxuries everyone else lived with. Thoreau thought that one could live a perfectly well-rounded life with just a few things. He said “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail” (Thoreau 65). Through this quote he talks about how he believes that he can live a grand life with the least amount of necessities, and he did. At Walden Pond, he built himself a small cabin, grew his own food, and earned his money by his own manual labor. While living in the woods, Thoreau was able to truly understand how little a person needs to live a simple, free, and...
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...philosophy, that emphasizes the ideas of individual development and potential. One man who followed the ideas of Transcendentalism was Christopher McCandless- the main character from the movie Into the Wild. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both influential transcendentalists that preached ideas in their writing. Throughout the movie Chris McCandless followed to large Transcendentalist ideas: living truly to himself, and living with simplicity. Chris does live the life of a Transcendentalist because he chose to leave everything behind him to live his life honestly, and with simplicity to become happy. Living an honest live is acting and believing on what is best for yourself, not what believe or value. Thoreau in Walden in Conclusion, explains the importance of the individualistic lifestyle for everyone. Thoreau says, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” (214). This means knowing the truth is the most important thing to know. Thoreau would rather have truth rather than relationships with others, financial success, and social success. The real truth is hiding and for one to find it must, get away from all of the distractions of...
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...periodically updated with happenings and insight into the lives of others. This would likely seem meaningless and idiotic to Henry David Thoreau, a prominent transcendentalist American author. He encourages his readers to live lives “simple and well as Nature”, independent from those of others and society (Thoreau 53). He therefore moved to Walden Pond on July 4, 1845 for two years and two months in order to live a simple and independent life. Thoreau claims that “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 have not lived” (61). In Walden, Thoreau upholds beliefs that he shares with transcendental authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. These beliefs include solitude, self-reliance, immersion in nature, and spiritual rebirth. Transcendentalism, a philosophical movement in the 19th century, stood against the individual’s conformity to societies and institutions. Instead, transcendentalism encouraged individuals to rise above society and live free, independent lives. Transcendentalism stemmed from discontent with Calvinism, a popular religion of the 19th century founded by John Calvin. Transcendentalists rebelled against predestination, the theory that individual are predestined at birth to go to heaven or hell. Thoreau brought with him to Walden Pond another transcendental belief, the importance of self-reliance. He...
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...researchers watched 32 middle-class families in Los Angeles as they went about their daily lives” and “the result showed the more time the mothers spent dealing with the things they owned, the more stressed out they were”. By citing this research, the articles demonstrates how people make their life more complex and stressful by entangling themselves with the secular and material stuff. Then, the author of the article further articulates that “minimalism is a quiet rebellion”, as the new Millennials are completely overturning their lifestyle as Minimalism for less stress and more release from the complex world, which is usually opposite from their parent’s traditional lifestyles. Also, this Minimalism is originated from the transcendentalism of Thoreau in 1800s, because they both pursue in simplification of their lives by filtering essential...
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...The Romantic Heart Christina Jones ENG/106 02/24/2014 Debora Aubuchon The Romantic Heart Emotion plays a large part in our lives, no matter what time period we live in. Emotion has fueled literary masterpieces from Ancient to modern times. Shakespeare wrote of love, anger and revenge and Jonathan Swift wrote of what is behind the curtain of love. As you read on you will encounter three literary works and see the part that emotion plays into them and how these pieces are influenced by the many authors who came before them. Jonathan Swift’s poem entitled, The Lady’s Dressing Room tells the story of Strephon, who takes a peek into his love, Celia’s, dressing room. Strephon is appalled by what he finds. In the beginning Strephon refers to Celia as a Goddess, “The Goddess from her Chamber issues, Array'd in Lace, Brocades and Tissues.” (Swift, 1732/2008, pp. 1994). However, as the poem continues Swift makes it clear that Strephon no longer feels this way by writing, “But swears how damnably the Men lie, In calling Celia sweet and cleanly.” (1732/2008, pp.1994). The Lady’s Dressing Room explores and tries to explain the private relationship between male and female. This literary masterpiece digs deep into the core of what is beneath just outside attraction or lust. True love is more than what is just on the surface. True love is when you can love both the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Swift’s poem is filled with many emotions. The character, Strephon, moves from...
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...Yesterday, I lived in Wonderland. I wandered through the forest with Alice. I was a young girl, grasping tightly to innocence. I dreamed that I lived in a world of my own, where everything was Photo credit: Melinda M., Phoenix, AZthe opposite of what is. My imagination consumed me. I fantasized of untainted bliss. I was curious to find out more, to discover what the White Rabbit’s very important date was. I searched for my identity, meandering in an unknown land of bizarre creatures like the Mad Hatter. I didn’t know who I would be the next day or what would happen if I suddenly awoke from a dream. My mind soaked up the utter confusion like a sponge, and nonsense triumphed over all. Today, I am sitting on a log at Walden Pond. Henry David Thoreau kneels on the grass next to me. We admire the hues of the setting sun. Its intensity awakens me, reminding me that I am truly alive. Mother Nature gives me the gift of life, of merely being, wrapped in a little box and decoratively tied with a ribbon. My existence is simple. I ignore time, the 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, as I bathe in the magnificence of the natural environment around me. I discard my watch to witness the transformation from sun to moon. With Thoreau by my side, I forget civilization and simply listen to the sounds of nature. Tomorrow, I will reside in the Big Apple. I will share a cup of black coffee with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. We will talk about literature and current events. I will march...
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