Transcendentalism: Walden by Henry D. Thoreau

from Walden Written by Henry David Thoreau Also the author of Civil Disobedience, one of the founders and most important movers of the Transcendental movement. Went to stay near Walden Pond on Emerson’s land for two years to get closer to nature. Being one with nature and seeing the beauty in the natural world is one of the major themes/beliefs of Transcendentalism.

from Walden Remember how Thoreau took Emerson’s teaching and put it into practice with his governmental beliefs? He does the same thing once again with his beliefs about the beauty of nature. Living alone, like a recluse, he wanted to do nothing but be one with the world and experience all it had, or didn’t have, to offer.

from Walden Where I Lived, and What I Lived For – My house was not finished for winter, but was merely a defense against the rain, without plastering or chimney, the walls being a rough weather-strained boards, with wide chinks, which made it cool at night. – Thoreau describes his house, left open to the elements so he could always experience the natural world.

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 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’s goal was to live by exploring the natural world, seeing what the world had to teach, and making sure he lived his life to the fullest.

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 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 thumbnail. Keep your life and all your affairs and business simple! People spend too much of their time dealing with time-wasting activities rather than actually living their lives like the should.

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Hardly a man takes a half hour’s nap after dinner, but when he wakes he hold up his head and asks, “What’s the news?” as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels. People are too concerned with the trials and tribulations of life that do not concern them. Live your own life, and live it to the best of your ability!

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 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. Let the world and events come and go. Men should be living their lives just like the natural world, letting things happen while just “being”.

Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Time is but the steam I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Life moves along just like a river. It is constantly flowing, like our lives. It is also shallow. It is not long, just a short time for us to experience, but life continues on just like it always has.

Solitude This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. Thoreau is in a good mood. He is experiencing a great evening when everything is going right and happiness and joy are seeping into his skin.

Solitude The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skink and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature’s watchmen, -links which connect the days of animated life. In Nature, every creature lives its life and does not rest. Unlike man, these creatures are constantly in their essence, in action. They are the example Nature puts forth for showing the days when life was natural and all action.

Solitude What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nears to one another. Thoreau does not feel lonely because being an individual and of your own mind means that you think your own thoughts and are not dependent on anyone else. Not matter how close physically you may move to someone, your minds will never become closer by that physical distance. Being close to others is a matter of the mind, not the physical space.

Solitude Men frequently say to me, “I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially.” People think that living this life would be lonesome. Being alone in the woods and outside of society must be a sad way to live.