Sean Tariche
Mr. Bruno
English IV – Period 3
Themes and Styles of Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau attended the public school in Concord and the private Concord Academy. He continued his education at Harvard, graduating in the top half of his class in 1837. Thoreau’s mentor and friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, influenced him with transcendental ideas. Thoreau died in 1862 from tuberculosis, which he had since his years in college.
Thoreau’s naturalistic writing focused on observation and transcendentalist interpretations of nature and the wild. Thoreau used the themes of nature, Wildness, transcendentalism, anti-slavery, solitude, Civil Disobedience, and nonconformity in many of his writings. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a friend of Thoreau’s who also served as a mentor. Through this friendship, he was exposed to transcendentalism. Thoreau came to know many of the transcendental movements leaders, including Bronson Alcott and Maragaret Fuller. In 1845, Thoreau built himself a small home on Walden Pond. He lived on this property, owned by Emerson, for more than two years. During this time, he worked as little as possible. Instead of working, he dedicated his time to philosophical and literary interests. He wrote A Week on Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden; or, Life in the Woods. These works were extremely influenced by Thoreau’s lifestyle,Thoreau’s focus on nature made him one of the first American ecologists.
Thoreau displays the theme of nature throughout all of his writings. Thoreau’s reading in natural history and literature of exploration provided him with abundant images of wild nature (Imagining Wild America Page 2). This is evident in Walden when Thoreau wrote “We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” This quote shows how invested Thoreau was in nature. He was deeply interested in the cultural patterns that transformed the countryside and the exchange between human life and natural processes (Imagining Wild America Page 2). In the Succession of Forest Trees, Thoreau writes about how when an oak wood tree is cut down, a pine tree will not at once spring up unless there are seed-bearing pines near enough for the seeds to be blown from them. Thoreau explained how the sounds of animals were serving as ‘evidence’ of nature’s health (Enthusiast! Essays on American Literature). In A Week on the Concord and Merrimack River, he wrote “All these sounds, the crowding of cocks, the baying of dogs, and the hum of insects at noon, are evidence of nature’s health of sound state.” The theme of nature was prominent in Thoreau’s life and that reflected the themes in his writing.
Wildness was another important theme in Thoreau’s literature. He explored the meaning of wilderness and wildness in America. He wrote about how the birds he heard singing had a background of untrodden wilderness. Thoreau’s use of wildness is due to “Thoreau’s attraction to wild nature appears to be governed by aesthetic ideals of times, particularly in his early writing, as in appreciation of mellifluous song of the wood thrush, his acute pleasure in the fragrance of sassafras, and his delight in the look of the woods.” (Imagining Wild America Page 53). In Walden, Thoreau wrote that he went to the woods because he wished to from only the essential facts of life. He wanted to learn what nature could teach him. Thoreau wrote about how he wanted to make sure that when he came to die, he would not find out that he had not lived. The wilderness was more than a background for Thoreau. He revealed his attraction to the “different order of things” and also the sense that perceiving the wildness depends upon recognizing and value if difference (Imagining Wild America Page 54). In Walden, he explained how every morning was a cheerful invitation to make his life of equal simplicity and he may say innocence, with Nature herself. Thoreau was always intrigued by the wildness of “the Indian”. He desired to recover a sense of the wildness of the primitive American (Imagining Wild America). He wrote in Walden, “The Indians intercourse with Nature is at least such as admits of the greatest independence of each.” His neighbor Hawthorne, said that Thoreau lived a “sort of Indian life among civilized men”. He is speaking of when Thoreau built a hut and lived in it for more than two years beside Walden Pond. Thoreau wrote his essay “Walking”, “In Wildness is the preservation of the world”. This statement was the encompassed the meaning of the entire essay in one sentence. Thoreau wanted to speak for nature and for wildness. In 1851, Thoreau spoke at the Concord Lyceum about the relationship between God, man and nature. This was the beginning of the American conservation movement. In Walden, Thoreau writes “I caught a wild glimpse of woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him War; not that I was hungry then except for that wildness which he represented.” Thoreau wrote about the wildness he observed every day in his life. He craved “Wild Apples” the “sour and sweets of nature” and he took pride in his appetite for them. He explains in Walden, that it takes a savage or wild taste to appreciates a wild fruit. Thoreau was attracted to wild things just as he was attracted to nature.
Because of Emerson’s influence on Thoreau, transcendentalism was also a major theme in his writings. He has many examples of transcendental ideas in his work. In Walden, “ I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Thoreau often spoke out about the advantages of a simple life. He condemned the greediness of men, and their determination to accumulate wealth. He preaches simplicity in Walden. He wrote “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.” He preached about transcendentalism in many of his works. He wrote about how civil disobedience could bring about change in society. He thought if men, who were opposed to injustice, could resist passively, the government would be forced into capitalulation. An example of transcendentalism from Civil Disobedience was “Again and again he returned to his attacking upon those who were forfeiting their souls in the mad scramble for material possessions.” Thoreau is speaking out against people who put too much value in materials.
Thoreau thought that civil disobedience could cause a great change in society. Civil disobedience every once led to Thoreau’s imprisonment. He refused to pay his poll tax. He explained that he would not recognize a government that is also a slave’s government. Someone paid the tax for him which allowed him to be released after spending a night in jail. This experience prompted Thoreau to write his famous essay “Civil Disobedience”. He argued that the government must end its wrongful actions to earn the privilege to collect taxes from the citizens. He promoted people to defy the government if they believe that the government is committing unjust actions. He wanted people to break the laws even if they were to end up in prison.