Transcendentalism was an American movement in the 1800’s suggesting a move back to nature and away from a strict societal structure. It paired Romanticism with reform, and championed individualism, emotion, nature, intuition, and the spiritual over groupthink, reason, mankind, institution, and the physical, respectively. Ralph Waldo Emerson subscribed to this way of thought, as did Henry David Thoreau (“Henry David Thoreau”). Henry David Thoreau was one of the most influential Transcendentalist thinkers because he wrote a prescription of sorts to a world of people sick of conformity. On July 12th, 1817, the Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts. He was the third child of John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau.
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His writings have stood the test of time. Most were concerned with the opportunities available to the American people, the right of man to live life as he pleases, and how success does not have just one definition. He once said, “The life which men praise is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?” (“Henry David Thoreau”). Many of these ideas have lingered, and we take them for granted today. He thought that living is an art, and that all men can make their lives a poem. He valued leisure, contemplation, and coexistence with nature in a society that was becoming increasingly fast-paced, busy, and urban. He influenced several notable men, including John Burrows, John Muir, Benton MacKay and Lewis Mumford. Still others, unseen by the public eye, have been affected by his writings. He also helped to change the style of American poetry and writing. His life was a great illustration of “moral heroism and an example of the continuing search for a spiritual dimension in American life” (“Henry David Thoreau”). Henry David Thoreau was a very influential figure in American History. His writings are still around and are still read today. Between Walden, Civil Disobedience and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack, Thoreau had a wide variety of writings that are now considered classics. This cultural hero was arguably one of the most influential of all the Transcendentalist thinkers because he dared to go against what was expected and open up a world of possibilities for people years to
His writings have stood the test of time. Most were concerned with the opportunities available to the American people, the right of man to live life as he pleases, and how success does not have just one definition. He once said, “The life which men praise is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?” (“Henry David Thoreau”). Many of these ideas have lingered, and we take them for granted today. He thought that living is an art, and that all men can make their lives a poem. He valued leisure, contemplation, and coexistence with nature in a society that was becoming increasingly fast-paced, busy, and urban. He influenced several notable men, including John Burrows, John Muir, Benton MacKay and Lewis Mumford. Still others, unseen by the public eye, have been affected by his writings. He also helped to change the style of American poetry and writing. His life was a great illustration of “moral heroism and an example of the continuing search for a spiritual dimension in American life” (“Henry David Thoreau”). Henry David Thoreau was a very influential figure in American History. His writings are still around and are still read today. Between Walden, Civil Disobedience and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack, Thoreau had a wide variety of writings that are now considered classics. This cultural hero was arguably one of the most influential of all the Transcendentalist thinkers because he dared to go against what was expected and open up a world of possibilities for people years to