Ralph H. Baer

infection. John Jr. died of tetanus on January 11, 1842, in Henry’s arms. Henry was torn apart by his brother’s death, and out of devastation, he closed their school down. Henry David Thoreau returned to the pencil factory to work but was invited by Ralph Waldo Emerson a place to live. Henry had first met Emerson when he attended Harvard University. Emerson was giving a lecture, as he had a book that had recently been published, Nature. He introduced Transcendentalism to Thoreau, which utterly…

Individuality is a very general idea about a certain lifestyle. While it can be perceived in many different ways, both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Washington Irving accurately describe it through different viewpoints in their works, titled “Self Reliance,” and “Rip Van Winkle,” respectively. This concept applies to all human lives, as everyone has internal debates on whether they are on the side of blending into society, and therefore not contributing to it, or pulling themselves out of society too…

“For these the old usages of poets afford Walt Whitman no means sufficiently fit and free, and he rejects the old usages. The style of the bard that is waited for is to be transcendent and new,” (Fitzgerald). Throughout history, Walt Whitman has been documented to have a unique style that had never been approached before. Whitman is believed to be a very radical figure of his time period, by never writing the way that previously had been traditional. Whitman began early in his life as a…

Taking long walks through a nature park is a well-known activity to find peace, quiet, and enjoy the unique beauty of the outdoors. People walk along man-made paths that wind through various sections of the park, and sometimes even explore off the beaten path. At Penn State, students typically explore the Arboretum, a large nature park, in order to separate themselves from the hectic, everyday life of a college student. Students have heavy loads of coursework that can be overwhelming and raise…

In Plato’s Apology and Emerson’s Self-Reliance, they both talk about the idea of becoming an independent thinker. Emerson claims that people should break away from the conventionality of society, and become independent people who trust themselves to get their power. In the Apology, Socrates claims that he would not have changed anything about the way he lived his life because he relied on himself and his daimon for his knowledge and understanding of the world. While I agree with Plato and…

Genius is Dissension On a gloomy day in 399 BC, a prolific philosopher lost his life through execution for daring to question moral character and believe differently from the state. In 1663, a dignified astronomer paced his home in solitude after being placed under house arrest for proposing the preposterous hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the sun. In the spring of 2013, thousands of people roamed through an art exhibit displayed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The exhibit…

The Grapes of Wrath, one of John Steinbeck’s signature and most controversial literary masterpiece, is a historical fiction novel that takes place in the Midwest region of the United States during the Great Depression. The book entails the struggles surrounding the Joad family as they journey to California, the “promised land”, in search of a better life. The way Steinbeck tells this narrative is distinct in the style he employs within the story unlike any other author. Known as intercalary…

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…

The story of the fearless, compassionate soul taking on the wild to gain knowledge and experience is timeless. Especially in the name of Transcendentalism and nonconformity many have gone on a journey to find meaning within this life and within themselves. Transcendentalism was a movement which encouraged nonconformity, the idea that God is found with everything, man is pure and wholly, also the regression to solitude in nature. The most recent infamous and tragic story of this would be that of…

Walk in Nature Thoreau once said,“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.” In my case, however, it was brief walk. I began by jumping off a deck, a metaphor for leaving society behind. Much like Thoreau did in his Walden Pond experiment. I then took a quick walk by the lake until I reached a fallen tree. I crossed it to get to the other side of the lake, and continued on. By the time I was done, I had sticks in my hair and dirt on my knees. There were not any other people,…