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"Thoreau" redirects here. For other uses, see Thoreau (disambiguation).
Western Philosophy
19th century philosophy
Henry David Thoreau
Name
Henry David Thoreau
Birth July 12, 1817
Concord, Massachusetts
Death May 6, 1862 (aged 44)
Concord, Massachusetts
School/tradition Transcendentalism
Main interests Natural history
Notable ideas Abolitionism, tax resistance, development criticism, civil disobedience, conscientious objection, direct action, environmentalism, nonviolent resistance, simple living
Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Influenced Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, William O. Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; (ˈθʌroʊ) (help·info), rhyming with "furrow";[1] July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)[2] was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, sage writer and philosopher. In the 18th century the philosophies of The Enlightenment began to have a dramatic effect the landmark works of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Jean-Jacques Events 1191 - Saladin 's garrison surrenders ending the two-year Siege of Acre. Year 1817 ( MDCCCXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a Tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax or to some of that institution’s policies Development criticism refers to criticisms of modern Technology, Industrialization, Capitalism and economic Globalization. Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain Laws demands and commands of a Government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical A conscientious objector (CO is an individual who on religious moral or ethical grounds refuses to participate as a combatant in war or in some cases to take any role that would support Direct action is political action which happens outside normal political channels via indirect actions such as electing representatives. Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) is the practice of achieving socio-political goals through Symbolic Protests Civil disobedience, Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of Wealth and consumption. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( –) (Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, was a Russian Writer widely regarded Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Events 1191 - Saladin 's garrison surrenders ending the two-year Siege of Acre. Year 1817 ( MDCCCXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a Tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax or to some of that institution’s policies Development criticism refers to criticisms of modern Technology, Industrialization, Capitalism and economic Globalization. Sage writing is a Genre of Creative nonfiction popular in the Victorian era. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Walden (first published as Walden or Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known Non-fiction books written Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of Wealth and consumption. Civil Disobedience ( Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849 Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain Laws demands and commands of a Government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. Nature writing is generally defined as Nonfiction Prose writing about the natural environment Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of Environmental history is the study of humans and nature and their past interrelationships Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment.

He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies The fugitive slave laws were laws passed by the United States Congress in 1793 and 1850 to provide for the return of slaves who escaped from one state Wendell Phillips ( 29 November 1811 &ndash 2 February 1884) was an American Abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans John Brown (May 9 1800 December 2 1859 was an American Abolitionist who advocated and practiced armed Insurrection as a means to end all Slavery Thoreau’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist[3][4] as well as an inspiration to anarchists. Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( –) (Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, was a Russian Writer widely regarded Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader Individualist anarchism refers to any of several traditions that hold that "individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective Though Civil Disobedience calls for improving rather than abolishing government — "I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government"[5] — the direction of this improvement aims at anarchism: “‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. ”[5]

Contents

Early life and education

He was born David Henry Thoreau[6] in Concord, Massachusetts to John Thoreau (a pencil maker) and Cynthia Dunbar. Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. His paternal grandfather was of French origin and was born in Jersey. The Bailiwick of Jersey ( Jèrriais: Jèrri) is a British Crown dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. [7] His maternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar, was known for leading Harvard's 1766 student "Butter Rebellion"[8] the first recorded student protest in the United States. The Great Butter Rebellion, which took place at Harvard University in 1766 was the first recorded Student protest in the United States [9] David Henry was named after a recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau. He did not become “Henry David” until after college, although he never petitioned to make a legal name change. [10] He had two older siblings, Helen and John Jr. , and a younger sister, Sophia. [11] Thoreau’s birthplace still exists on Virginia Road in Concord and is currently the focus of preservation efforts. The house is original, but it now stands about 100 yards away from its first site.

Bronson Alcott and Thoreau's aunt both wrote that “Thoreau” is pronounced like the word “thorough”, whose standard American pronunciation rhymes with “furrow”. Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29 1799 &ndash March 4 1888 was an American teacher and writer [12] In appearance he was homely, with a nose that he called “my most prominent feature. ”[13] Of his face, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: "[Thoreau] is as ugly as sin, long-nosed, queer-mouthed, and with uncouth and rustic, though courteous manners, corresponding very well with such an exterior. Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer But his ugliness is of an honest and agreeable fashion, and becomes him much better than beauty. "[14] Thoreau also wore a neck-beard for many years, which he insisted many women found attractive. However, Louisa May Alcott reportedly mentioned to Ralph Waldo Emerson that Thoreau's facial hair "will most assuredly deflect amorous advances and preserve the man's virtue in perpetuity. Louisa May Alcott ( November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American Novelist. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century "[15]

Thoreau studied at Harvard University between 1833 and 1837. He lived in Hollis Hall and took courses in rhetoric, classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science. This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. Only First-Years live in the dormitories Rhetoric has had many definitions no simple definition can do it justice Legend states that Thoreau refused to pay the five-dollar fee for a Harvard diploma. In fact, the master's degree he declined to purchase had no academic merit: Harvard College offered it to graduates "who proved their physical worth by being alive three years after graduating, and their saving, earning, or inheriting quality or condition by having Five Dollars to give the college. "[16] His comment was: "Let every sheep keep its own skin", presumably a reference to the tradition of diplomas being written on vellum, a paper made from sheepskin. Vellum (from the Old French Vélin for "calfskin" is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on single pages scrolls codices or books Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin or lambswool.

Return to Concord: 1837-1841

During a leave of absence from Harvard in 1835, Thoreau taught school in Canton, Massachusetts. Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. After graduating in 1837, he joined the faculty of Concord Academy, but he refused to administer corporal punishment, and the school board soon dismissed him. Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended to Punish a person or change his/her behavior He and his brother John then opened a grammar school in Concord in 1838. A grammar school is one of several different types of School in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries They introduced several progressive concepts, including nature walks and visits to local shops and businesses. The school ended when John became fatally ill from tetanus in 1842. Tetanus is a medical condition that is characterized by a prolonged contraction of Skeletal muscle fibres [17]

Upon graduation Thoreau returned home to Concord, where he befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson took a paternal and at times patronizing interest in Thoreau, advising the young man and introducing him to a circle of local writers and thinkers, including Ellery Channing, Margaret Fuller, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his son Julian Hawthorne, who was a boy at the time. This article is about William Ellery Channing the Transcendentalist poet Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli (May 23 1810 – July 19 1850 was a Journalist, Critic and Women's rights activist associated with the American Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29 1799 &ndash March 4 1888 was an American teacher and writer Julian Hawthorne ( June 22, 1846 &ndash1934 was an American writer and journalist the son of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody

Emerson constantly urged Thoreau to contribute essays and poems to a quarterly periodical, The Dial, and Emerson lobbied with editor Margaret Fuller to publish those writings. The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929 Thoreau’s first essay published there was Natural History of Massachusetts; half book review, half natural history essay, it appeared in 1842. It consisted of revised passages from his journal, which he had begun keeping at Emerson’s suggestion. The first entry on October 22, 1837, reads, "‘What are you doing now?’ he asked. Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1837 ( MDCCCXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common ‘Do you keep a journal?’ So I make my first entry today. "

Thoreau was a philosopher of nature and its relation to the human condition. In his early years he followed Transcendentalism, a loose and eclectic idealist philosophy advocated by Emerson, Fuller, and Alcott. Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the In Western civilization, Idealism is the philosophy which maintains that the Ultimate nature of reality is ideal or based upon ideas values essences The so-called They held that an ideal spiritual state transcends, or goes beyond, the physical and empirical, and that one achieves that insight via personal intuition rather than religious doctrine. In their view, Nature is the outward sign of inward spirit, expressing the “radical correspondence of visible things and human thoughts,” as Emerson wrote in Nature (1836).

1967 U.S. postage stamp honoring Thoreau.
1967 U. S. postage stamp honoring Thoreau.

On April 18, 1841, Thoreau moved into the Emerson house. Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland. For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link [18] There, from 1841-1844, he served as the children’s tutor, editorial assistant, and repair man/gardener. For a few months in 1843, he moved to the home of William Emerson on Staten Island, tutoring the family sons while writing for New York periodicals, aided in part by his future literary representative Horace Greeley. Staten Island (ˌstætənˈaɪlənd is a borough of New York City situated primarily on the island of the same name Horace Greeley ( February 3, 1811 &ndash November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder

Thoreau returned to Concord and worked in his family's pencil factory, which he continued to do for most of his adult life. A pencil is a Writing or Drawing instrument consisting of a thin stick of Pigment (usually Graphite, but can also be coloured pigment or He rediscovered the process to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite by using clay as the binder; this invention improved upon graphite found in New Hampshire in 1821 by Charles Dunbar. The Mineral graphite, as with Diamond and Fullerene, is one of the Allotropes of carbon. New Hampshire ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. (The process of mixing graphite and clay, known as the Conté process, was patented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in 1795. Nicolas-Jacques Conté ( 4 August 1755 - 6 December 1805) was a French painter, balloonist Army officer ) Later, Thoreau converted the factory to produce plumbago (graphite), used to ink typesetting machines. Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on Paper or some other medium. [19]

Once back in Concord, Thoreau went through a restless period. In April 1844 he and his friend Edward Hoar accidentally set a fire that consumed 300 acres (1. 2 km²) of Walden Woods. [20] He spoke often of finding a farm to buy or lease, which he felt would give him a means to support himself while also providing enough solitude to write his first book.

Civil disobedience and the Walden years: 1845–1849

A reproduction of Thoreau’s cabin with a statue of Thoreau.
A reproduction of Thoreau’s cabin with a statue of Thoreau.

Thoreau embarked on a two-year experiment in simple living on July 4, 1845, when he moved to a small self-built house on land owned by Emerson in a second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond. Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of Wealth and consumption. Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1845 ( MDCCCXLV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Secondary, or second-growth, forest is a Forest or Woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as Fire, Insect Walden Pond is a 102-foot (31 m deep Pond, 61 acres in area and around located in Concord Massachusetts, in the United States The house was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, 1. 5 miles (2. 4 km) from his family home.

On July 24 or July 25, 1846, Thoreau ran into the local tax collector, Sam Staples, who asked him to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. Events 1132 - Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. Events 285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler For the game see 1846 (board game. Year 1846 ( MDCCCXLVI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid Taxes from other people or corporations Samuel James Staples (born September 18, 1892, Newstead Colliery, Nottinghamshire, died June 4, 1950, Standard A poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a Tax of a uniform fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income Thoreau refused because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery, and he spent a night in jail because of this refusal. Slavery in the United States began soon after English colonists first settled Virginia in 1607 and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth (The next day Thoreau was freed, over his protests, when his aunt paid his taxes. [21]) The experience had a strong impact on Thoreau. In January and February 1848, he delivered lectures on "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government"[22] explaining his tax resistance at the Concord Lyceum. Bronson Alcott attended the lecture; who wrote in his journal on January 26,

Heard Thoreau’s lecture before the Lyceum on the relation of the individual to the State — an admirable statement of the rights of the individual to self-government, and an attentive audience. Amos Bronson Alcott (November 29 1799 &ndash March 4 1888 was an American teacher and writer Events 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France. His allusions to the Mexican War, to Mr. Hoar’s expulsion from Carolina, his own imprisonment in Concord Jail for refusal to pay his tax, Mr. Hoar’s payment of mine when taken to prison for a similar refusal, were all pertinent, well considered, and reasoned. I took great pleasure in this deed of Thoreau’s. [23]

Thoreau revised the lecture into an essay entitled Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience). Civil Disobedience ( Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849 In May 1849 it was published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers. Elizabeth Palmer Peabody ( May 16, 1804 - January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language Kindergarten

Thoreau is frequently quoted as espousing that the true place for a just man is in prison. He in fact actually writes in Civil Disobedience, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. "[24]

At Walden Pond, he completed a first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, an elegy to his brother, John, that described their 1839 trip to the White Mountains. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers is a book by Henry David Thoreau, first published in 1849. The term " elegy " was originally used for a type of poetic meter ( Elegiac metre but is also used for a Poem of mourning from the Greek The White Mountains are a Mountain range that covers about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the Thoreau did not find a publisher for this book and instead printed 1,000 copies at his own expense, though less than 300 sold. [25] Thoreau self-published on the advice of Emerson, using Emerson’s own publisher Munroe, who did little to publicize the book. Its failure put Thoreau into debt that took years to pay off, and Emerson’s flawed advice caused a schism between the friends that never entirely healed.

In August 1846, Thoreau briefly left Walden to make a trip to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a journey later recorded in “Ktaadn,” the first part of The Maine Woods. Mount Katahdin (USGS name is the highest mountain in Maine. Called Katahdin by people local to the peak and by the Penobscot Indians: the term means "The The State of Maine ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean

Thoreau left Walden Pond on September 6, 1847. Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1847 ( MDCCCXLVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common [26] Over several years, he worked to pay off his debts and also continuously revised his manuscript. In 1854, he published Walden, or Life in the Woods, recounting the two years, two months, and two days he had spent at Walden Pond. Walden (first published as Walden or Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known Non-fiction books written The book compresses that time into a single calendar year, using the passage of four seasons to symbolize human development. Part memoir and part spiritual quest, Walden at first won few admirers, but today critics regard it as a classic American book that explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty as models for just social and cultural conditions. for other uses see Memoir (disambiguation As a literary Genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire

Late years: 1851-1862

Henry David Thoreau, photograph published circa 1879
Henry David Thoreau, photograph published circa 1879

In 1851, Thoreau became increasingly fascinated with natural history and travel/expedition narratives. Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods He read avidly on botany and often wrote observations on this topic into his journal. Botany, plant science(s, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of Biology and is the scientific study of plant Life He greatly admired William Bartram and Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle. William Bartram ( April 20, 1739 — July 22, 1823) was an American naturalist, the son of John Bartram. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life This is about the book For the expedition see Second voyage of HMS Beagle The Voyage of the Beagle is a title commonly given to He kept detailed observations on Concord's nature lore, recording everything from how the fruit ripened over time to the fluctuating depths of Walden Pond and the days certain birds migrated. The point of this task was to “anticipate” the seasons of nature, in his words.

He became a land surveyor and continued to write increasingly detailed natural history observations about the 26 square mile (67 km²) township in his journal, a two-million word document he kept for 24 years. He also kept a series of separate notebooks, and these observations became the source for Thoreau's late natural history writings, such as Autumnal Tints, The Succession of Trees, and Wild Apples, an essay bemoaning the destruction of indigenous and wild apple species.

Until the 1970s, Thoreau’s late pursuits were dismissed by literary critics as amateur science and philosophy. With the rise of environmental history and ecocriticism, several new readings of this matter began to emerge, showing Thoreau to be both a philosopher and an analyst of ecological patterns in fields and woodlots. Environmental history is the study of humans and nature and their past interrelationships Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between Literature and the Natural environment. For instance, his late essay, "The Succession of Forest Trees," shows that he used experimentation and analysis to explain how forests regenerate after fire or human destruction, through dispersal by seed-bearing winds or animals.

He traveled to Quebec once, Cape Cod four times, and Maine three times; these landscapes inspired his "excursion" books, A Yankee in Canada, Cape Cod, and The Maine Woods, in which travel itineraries frame his thoughts about geography, history and philosophy. Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk Cape Cod (or simply the Cape to most New Englanders is a Peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County Massachusetts and forming the easternmost Other travels took him southwest to Philadelphia and New York City in 1854, and west across the Great Lakes region in 1861, visiting Niagara Falls, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Mackinac Island. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The City of New York Great Lakes region can refer to Great Lakes region (North America African Great Lakes region The Niagara Falls are massive Waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border separating the Canadian province of Ontario Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Saint Paul ( abbreviated St Paul) is the capital and second most populous city in the U Mackinac Island (ˈmækɨnɔː) is an island covering in land area belonging to the U [27]

After John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry, many prominent voices in the abolitionist movement distanced themselves from Brown, or damned him with faint praise. Harpers Ferry redirects here For other uses see Harpers Ferry (disambiguation. Thoreau was disgusted by this, and he composed a speech — A Plea for Captain John Brown — which was uncompromising in its defense of Brown and his actions. A Plea for Captain John Brown is an Essay by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau’s speech proved persuasive: first the abolitionist movement began to accept Brown as a martyr, and by the time of the American Civil War entire armies of the North were literally singing Brown’s praises. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South For the reggae musical group see John Brown's Body (band. For the epic poem see John Brown's Body (poem "John As a contemporary biographer of John Brown put it: “If, as Alfred Kazin suggests, without John Brown there would have been no Civil War, we would add that without the Concord Transcendentalists, John Brown would have had little cultural impact. Alfred Kazin ( June 5 1915 &ndash June 5 1998) was an American Writer and Literary critic, many of whose writings ”[28]

Death

Thoreau family graves at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Thoreau family graves at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Thoreau first contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it sporadically over his life. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common In 1859, following a late night excursion to count the rings of tree stumps during a rain storm, he became ill with bronchitis. Bronchitis is an Inflammation of the Bronchi. More specifically it may refer to Acute bronchitis, caused by viruses or bacteria and lasting His health declined over three years with brief periods of remission, until he eventually became bedridden. Recognizing the terminal nature of his disease, Thoreau spent his last years revising and editing his unpublished works, particularly The Maine Woods and Excursions, and petitioning publishers to print revised editions of A Week and Walden. He also wrote letters and journal entries until he became too weak to continue. His friends were alarmed at his diminished appearance and were fascinated by his tranquil acceptance of death. When his aunt Louisa asked him in his last weeks if he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded quite simply: “I did not know we had ever quarreled. ” Aware he was dying, Thoreau's last words were “Now comes good sailing,” followed by two lone words, “moose” and “Indian. ”[29] He died on 6 May 1862 at age 44. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday

Originally buried in the Dunbar family plot, he and members of his immediate family were eventually moved to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is a Cemetery located on Bedford Street near the center of Concord Massachusetts. Emerson wrote the eulogy spoken at his funeral. A eulogy is a speech or writing in Praise of a person or thing [30] Thoreau’s friend Ellery Channing published his first biography, Thoreau the Poet-Naturalist, in 1873, and Channing and another friend Harrison Blake edited some poems, essays, and journal entries for posthumous publication in the 1890s. This article is about William Ellery Channing the Transcendentalist poet Thoreau’s Journal, often mined but largely unpublished at his death, first appeared in 1906 and helped to build his modern reputation. A new and greatly expanded edition of the Journal is underway, published by Princeton University Press. Today, Thoreau is regarded as one of the foremost American writers, both for the modern clarity of his prose style and the prescience of his views on nature and politics. His memory is honored by the international Thoreau Society. Established in 1941 the Thoreau Society has long contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about Henry David Thoreau by collecting books manuscripts and artifacts relating

Beliefs

Thoreau memorial at Library Way, New York City.
Thoreau memorial at Library Way, New York City. The City of New York

Thoreau was an early advocate of recreational hiking and canoeing, of conserving natural resources on private land, and of preserving wilderness as public land. Canoeing is the activity of paddling a Canoe for the purpose of recreation (also called a float trip Sport, or transportation. Thoreau was also one of the first American supporters of Darwin's theory of evolution. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 He was not a strict vegetarian, though he said he preferred that diet[31] and advocated it as a means of self-improvement. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea He wrote in Walden: "The practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness; and besides, when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It was insignificant and unnecessary, and cost more than it came to. A little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well, with less trouble and filth. "[32]

Thoreau neither rejected civilization nor fully embraced wilderness. Instead he sought a middle ground, the pastoral realm that integrates both nature and culture. The wildness he enjoyed was the nearby swamp or forest, and he preferred “partially cultivated country. ” His idea of being “far in the recesses of the wilderness” of Maine was to “travel the logger’s path and the Indian trail,” but he also hiked on pristine untouched land. In the essay "Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher" Roderick Nash writes: "Thoreau left Concord in 1846 for the first of three trips to northern Maine. Roderick Nash is a history and environmental studies professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. His expectations were high because he hoped to find genuine, primeval America. But contact with real wilderness in Maine affected him far differently than had the idea of wilderness in Concord. Instead of coming out of the woods with a deepened appreciation of the wilds, Thoreau felt a greater respect for civilization and realized the necessity of balance. "[33]

On alcohol, Thoreau wrote: "I would fain keep sober always. . . I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man; wine is not so noble a liquor. . . Of all ebriosity, who does not prefer to be intoxicated by the air he breathes?"[32]

Influence

A bust of Thoreau from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College.
A bust of Thoreau from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at the Bronx Community College. The Hall of Fame for Great Americans, is the original " Hall of Fame " in the United States The Bronx Community College of The City University of New York is a Community college in the City University of New York system located in the University Heights

Thoreau’s writings had far reaching influences on many public figures. Political leaders and reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, President John F. Kennedy, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and Russian author Leo Tolstoy all spoke of being strongly affected by Thoreau’s work, particularly Civil Disobedience. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Leo Tolstoy, or Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy ( –) (Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, was a Russian Writer widely regarded So did many artists and authors including Edward Abbey, Willa Cather, Marcel Proust, William Butler Yeats, Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, E. B. White, and Frank Lloyd Wright and naturalists like John Burroughs, John Muir, E.O. Wilson, Edwin Way Teale, Joseph Wood Krutch , B.F Skinner, and David Brower. Edward Paul Abbey ( January 29, 1927 - March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental Willa Sibert Cather ( December 7, 1873 &ndash April 24, 1947) was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (maʁsɛl pʁust (10 July 1871 &ndash 18 November 1922 was a French Novelist Essayist and Critic Sinclair Lewis ( February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American Novelist, Short-story writer and Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21 1899 — July 2 1961 was an American novelist short-story writer, and Journalist. Elwyn Brooks "E B" White ( July 11, 1899 – October 1 1985) was an American writer Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8 1867 &ndash April 9 1959 was an American (of Welsh descent Architect, Interior designer, Writer, and educator who John Burroughs ( April 3, 1837 - March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and Essayist important in the evolution John Muir ( April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was a Scottish -born American Naturalist, author and early Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist researcher ( Sociobiology, Biodiversity) theorist ( Edwin Way Teale ( June 2, 1899 &ndash October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist photographer, and Pulitzer Prize Joseph Wood Krutch (pronounced krootch) ( November 25, 1893 &ndash May 22, 1970) was an American writer critic and naturalist Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author David Ross Brower ( July 1, 1912 &ndash November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations [34] Anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman also appreciated Thoreau and referred to him as “the greatest American anarchist”. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Emma Goldman (June 27 1869 – May 14 1940 was an anarchist known for her political activism writing and speeches

Mahatma Gandhi first read Walden in 1906 while working as a civil rights activist in Johannesburg, South Africa. Johannesburg ( Pronounced /jō-hān'ĭs-bûrg'/ is the largest city in South Africa. He told American reporter Webb Miller, "[Thoreau's] ideas influenced me greatly. Webb Miller ( February 10, 1891 – May 7, 1940) was an American journalist and war correspondent I adopted some of them and recommended the study of Thoreau to all of my friends who were helping me in the cause of Indian Independence. Why I actually took the name of my movement from Thoreau's essay 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,' written about 80 years ago. "[35]

Martin Luther King, Jr. noted in his autobiography that his first encounter with the idea of non-violent resistance was reading "On Civil Disobedience" in 1944 while attending Morehouse College. Morehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. He wrote in his autobiography that it was

Here, in this courageous New Englander's refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery's territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance. Fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, I was so deeply moved that I reread the work several times.

I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest. The teachings of Thoreau came alive in our civil rights movement; indeed, they are more alive than ever before. Whether expressed in a sit-in at lunch counters, a freedom ride into Mississippi, a peaceful protest in Albany, Georgia, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, these are outgrowths of Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted and that no moral man can patiently adjust to injustice. [36]

The University of Michigan's New England Literature Program is an experiential literature and writing program run through the university's Department of English Language and Literature which was started in the 1970s by professors Alan Howes and Walter Clark. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor ( U of M, U-M, UM or simply Michigan) is a top-ranked Coeducational public research The New England Literature Program ( NELP) is an academic program run by the University of Michigan that takes place off-campus during the Spring half-term Howes and Clark called upon Thoreauvian ideals of nature, independence and community to create an academic program modeled after Thoreau's experiment at Walden Pond. Today, students at NELP study Thoreau's work — as well as that of several other New England writers from the 19th and 20th centuries — in relative isolation on Sebago Lake in Raymond, Maine. Sebago Lake is the deepest and second largest Lake in the US state of Maine. Raymond is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States.

American psychologist B. F. Skinner wrote that he carried a copy of Thoreau's Walden with him in his youth[37] and, in 1945, wrote Walden Two, a fictional utopia about 1,000 members of a community living together inspired by the life of Thoreau. Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author Walden Two ( 1948) is a fictional Utopian novel by behavioral psychologist B [38]

Criticism

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson judged Thoreau’s endorsement of living alone in natural simplicity, apart from modern society, to be a mark of effeminacy:

…Thoreau’s content and ecstasy in living was, we may say, like a plant that he had watered and tended with womanish solicitude; for there is apt to be something unmanly, something almost dastardly, in a life that does not move with dash and freedom, and that fears the bracing contact of the world. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850–3 December 1894 was a Scottish novelist poet and travel writer, and a representative of Neo-romanticism in In one word, Thoreau was a skulker. He did not wish virtue to go out of him among his fellow-men, but slunk into a corner to hoard it for himself. He left all for the sake of certain virtuous self-indulgences. [39]

Richard Zacks pokes fun at Thoreau in An Underground Education : The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge saying:

Thoreau's 'Walden, or Life in the Woods' deserves its status as a great American book but let it be known that Nature Boy went home on weekends to raid the family cookie jar. While living the simple life in the woods, Thoreau walked into nearby Concord, Mass. , almost every day. And his mom, who lived less than two miles away, delivered goodie baskets filled with meals, pies and doughnuts every Saturday. The more one reads in Thoreau's unpolished journal of his stay in the woods, the more his sojourn resembles suburban boys going to their tree-house in the backyard and pretending they're camping in the heart of the jungle. {[40]}

However, English novelist George Eliot, writing in the Westminster Review, characterized such critics as uninspired and narrow-minded:

People — very wise in their own eyes — who would have every man’s life ordered according to a particular pattern, and who are intolerant of every existence the utility of which is not palpable to them, may pooh-pooh Mr. Mary Ann (Marian Evans ( 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) better known by her Pen name George Eliot, was an The Westminster Review was founded in 1823 by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill as a quarterly journal for philosophical radicals, and was published from 1824 Thoreau and this episode in his history, as unpractical and dreamy.

Poet John Greenleaf Whittier had a conflicting reaction, saying that the message in Walden was that man should lower himself to the level of a woodchuck and walk on four legs. John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17 1807 &ndash September 7 1892 was an influential American Quaker Poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of Slavery The groundhog ( Marmota monax) also known as the woodchuck land beaver or whistlepig, is a Rodent of the family Sciuridae He said: "Thoreau's Walden is a capital reading, but very wicked and heathenish. . . After all, for me, I prefer walking on two legs". [41]

Works

Henry David Thoreau

Central topics

Civil Disobedience
Herald of Freedom
 Life Without Principle
The Last Days of John Brown
 Paradise (to be) Regained
A Plea for Captain John Brown
Reform and the Reformers
Remarks After the Hanging of John Brown
The Service
Sir Walter Raleigh
 Slavery in Massachusetts
Thomas Carlyle and His Works
Walden
A Walk to Wachusett
Wendell Phillips Before the Concord Lyceum
 The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau
Thoreau Society

Related topics

Abolitionism · Anarchism
Anarchism in the United States
Civil disobedience
Concord, Massachusetts
Conscientious objection
Direct action · Ecology
Environmentalism
History of tax resistance
Individualist anarchism
John Brown · Lyceum movement
Nonviolent resistance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Simple living · Tax resistance
Tax resisters · Transcendentalism
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
Walden Pond
edit this box

See also

References

  1. ^ Although Henry David Thoreau himself pronounced his name /ˈθʌroʊ/, many people pronounce it /θəˈroʊ/ or /ˈθɔroʊ/.
  2. ^ Biography of Henry David Thoreau, American Poems (2000-2007 Gunnar Bengtsson).
  3. ^ Johnson, Ellwood. The Goodly Word: The Puritan Influence in America Literature, Clements Publishing, 2005, p. 138.
  4. ^ Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, edited by Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman, Alvin Saunders Johnson, 1937, p. 12.
  5. ^ a b Thoreau, H. D. Resistance to Civil Government
  6. ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc. , 1981: 51. ISBN 086576008X
  7. ^ Ancestors of Mary Ann Gillam and Stephen Old
  8. ^ History of the Fraternity System
  9. ^ Trivia-Library
  10. ^ Henry David Thoreau, Meet the Writers, Barnes & Noble. com
  11. ^ Biography of Henry David Thoreau, American Poems (2000-2007 Gunnar Bengtsson)
  12. ^ THUR-oh or Thor-OH? And How Do We Know? Thoreau Reader
  13. ^ Thoreau, H. D. Cape Cod
  14. ^ American Notebooks Nathaniel Hawthorne
  15. ^ Colman, William, et al, The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson 16 vols. (Cambridge, Mass 1960-)
  16. ^ "Thoreau's Diploma". American Literature Vol. 17, May 1945. 174-175.
  17. ^ Dean, Bradley P. "A Thoreau Chronology".
  18. ^ Cheevers, Susan (2006). American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. Large print edition. p. 90. ISBN 078629521X.
  19. ^ Conrad, Randall. (Fall 2005). "The Machine in the Wetland: Re-imagining Thoreau's Plumbago-Grinder". Thoreau Society Bulletin (253).
  20. ^ A Chronology of Thoreau's Life, with Events of the Times, The Thoreau Project, Calliope Film Resources, accessed 11 June 2007
  21. ^ Rosenwald, Lawrence. "The Theory, Practice & Influence of Thoreau's Civil Disobedience". William Cain, ed. A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau. Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 2006.
  22. ^ Thoreau, H. D. letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson February 23, 1848
  23. ^ Alcott, Bronson. Events 1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western Book printed from Movable Journals. Boston: Little, Brown, 1938.
  24. ^ Thoreau's Civil Disobedience
  25. ^ Cheevers, p. 234
  26. ^ Cheevers, p. 244
  27. ^ Henry David Thoreau, The Annotated Walden (1970), Philip Van Doren Stern, ed. , pp. 96, 132
  28. ^ Reynolds, David S. John Brown, Abolitionist Knopf (2005), p. 4
  29. ^ The Writer's Almanac
  30. ^ Emerson, Ralph Waldo Thoreau. The Atlantic August 1862.
  31. ^ Brooks, Van Wyck. The Flowering of New England. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc. , 1952. p. 310
  32. ^ a b Cheevers, Susan (2006). American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. Large print edition. p. 241. ISBN 078629521X.
  33. ^ "Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher" by Roderick Nash
  34. ^ Kifer, Ken Analysis and Notes on Walden: Henry Thoreau’s Text with Adjacent Thoreauvian Commentary
  35. ^ Miller, Webb. I Found No Peace. Garden City, 1938. 238-239
  36. ^ King, M. L. Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. chapter two
  37. ^ Skinner, B. F. A Matter of Consequences
  38. ^ Skinner, B. F. Walden Two (1948)
  39. ^ Stevenson, Robert Louis. "Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions". Cornhill Magazine. June 1880.
  40. ^ Zacks, Richard. An Underground Education, Doubleday Publishing. 1997, p19.
  41. ^ Wagenknecht, Edward. John Greenleaf Whittier: A Portrait in Paradox. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967: 112.
  42. ^ The Landlord from Cornell University Library
  43. ^ The Landlord from Wikisource
  44. ^ A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers from Project Gutenberg
  45. ^ Aesthetic papers from the Internet Archive
  46. ^ An Excursion to Canada from Wikisource
  47. ^ Walking from Project Gutenberg
  48. ^ Walking from Wikisource
  49. ^ Autumnal Tints from Wikisource
  50. ^ Wild_Apples: The History of_the Apple Tree from Wikisource
  51. ^ Wild Apples: The History of the Apple Tree from Project Gutenberg
  52. ^ Excursions from the Internet Archive
  53. ^ Life without Principle from Cornell University Library
  54. ^ Life Without Principle from Wikisource
  55. ^ Night and Moonlight from Cornell University Library
  56. ^ Night and Moonlight from Wikisource
  57. ^ The Highland Light from Wikisource
  58. ^ The Maine Woods from The Thoreau Reader
  59. ^ The Maine woods from The Internet Archive
  60. ^ Cape Cod from The Thoreau Reader
  61. ^ Letters to various persons from the Internet Archive
  62. ^ A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-slavery and reform papers from the Internet Archive
  63. ^ Summer: from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau from the Internet Archive
  64. ^ Winter : from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau from the Internet Archive
  65. ^ Autumn. From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau from the Internet Archive
  66. ^ Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau the Internet Archive
  67. ^ The first and last journeys of Thoreau : lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts Vol. 1 from the Internet Archive
  68. ^ The first and last journeys of Thoreau : lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts Vol. 2 from the Internet Archive
  69. ^ The Journal of Henry David Thoreau

Further reading

External links

Texts
Other
Persondata
NAME Thoreau, Henry David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thoreau, David Henry
SHORT DESCRIPTION American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Concord, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1862
PLACE OF DEATH
The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the A tax resister resists or refuses payment of a Tax because of opposition to the institution collecting the tax or to some of that institution’s policies Development criticism refers to criticisms of modern Technology, Industrialization, Capitalism and economic Globalization. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Events 1191 - Saladin 's garrison surrenders ending the two-year Siege of Acre. Year 1817 ( MDCCCXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday
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