Independent and strong-willed Henry David Thoreau, has continued to have a ginormous impact on Americans of his generation through the generations of today. Throughout the last several decades the world, especially America, has seen Thoreau’s idea in work. Thoreau’s work with transcendentalism began mainly when he moved in with his colleague Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the beginning of his young adulthood, Thoreau taught until a conflict involving corporal punishment. After this point he and his elder brother, John, opened a school together in Concord. They had great success in their school until John had become ill and was unable to help run the school any longer. Thus, Thoreau’s work with transcendentalism began exclusively when he moved in with
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In Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau has inspired the message of freedom today and through many generations before by imagery, figurative language, and emotional appeal. In Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau he continues to inspire us today through his radical thoughts by the use of imagery and diction. To use diction in writing is to use certain word choice to increase the quality of ones writing, and to use imagery is to be able to form a picture in the mind of the reader through the use of words. This is something that Thoreau has been able to accomplish very well in not only Civil Disobedience, and also through many of his other writings. …show more content…
Figurative language can include many different techniques of writing, such as metaphors and similes. In this literary work, Thoreau used many metaphors, which are similar to similes in the fact that they are comparing two or more unlike things, however, they do not use the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. He expresses several themes throughout this writing by utilizing this technique of figurative language. One place this is demonstrated in Civil Disobedience is on page 388-389 in the second paragraph in reference to the American government, “It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves; and, if ever they should use it in earnest as a real one against each other, it will surely split.” This metaphor demonstrates a huge thought in which Thoreau is trying to portray, we must use the government only with good intent. Through this writing he constantly readdresses the point that one cannot just manipulate the government to achieve something of personal want, especially in the case of a war. Since Thoreau wrote these influential words, the people of America have continued to be inspired and learn from this war. He was able to explain to the common man of America that it is important to use the government only for very pressing matters and to not involve the government unnecessarily in
In Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau has inspired the message of freedom today and through many generations before by imagery, figurative language, and emotional appeal. In Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau he continues to inspire us today through his radical thoughts by the use of imagery and diction. To use diction in writing is to use certain word choice to increase the quality of ones writing, and to use imagery is to be able to form a picture in the mind of the reader through the use of words. This is something that Thoreau has been able to accomplish very well in not only Civil Disobedience, and also through many of his other writings. …show more content…
Figurative language can include many different techniques of writing, such as metaphors and similes. In this literary work, Thoreau used many metaphors, which are similar to similes in the fact that they are comparing two or more unlike things, however, they do not use the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. He expresses several themes throughout this writing by utilizing this technique of figurative language. One place this is demonstrated in Civil Disobedience is on page 388-389 in the second paragraph in reference to the American government, “It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves; and, if ever they should use it in earnest as a real one against each other, it will surely split.” This metaphor demonstrates a huge thought in which Thoreau is trying to portray, we must use the government only with good intent. Through this writing he constantly readdresses the point that one cannot just manipulate the government to achieve something of personal want, especially in the case of a war. Since Thoreau wrote these influential words, the people of America have continued to be inspired and learn from this war. He was able to explain to the common man of America that it is important to use the government only for very pressing matters and to not involve the government unnecessarily in