ipl-logo

Henry David Thoreau And Emerson Comparison

748 Words3 Pages

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both fond nature to be essential to being a whole person: spiritually and emotionally. Emerson saw nature’s effect on people and their thoughts, whereas Thoreau saw the deliberateness of nature and thought that if people could seize the same decisiveness that they would have more to enjoy in life. Both authors believed that humans needed to enjoy nature to be one with the universal being that is the basis of Transcendentalism.
Emerson wrote “When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind.” (Nature 693) Emerson was saying that nature is similar to poetry for the mind, in that it is relaxing and wholesome. Poetry is something that should be indulged in …show more content…

You can’t walk in the woods and see a leaf that doesn’t quite know if it wants to fall to the ground or stay on the tree. Thoreau noticed this, and thought that if people could be decisive in the same way that nature was, then they could “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put as to put to rout all that was not life… cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner…” (Walden 771) This is something that Thoreau highly valued. He wanted to live as his own person, which was, in his mind, best accomplished by living in nature and not being involved with the government. He wrote “The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, &c.” (Resistance 753). This comes from Thoreau’s thoughts about the government. He feels that one cannot live deliberately while still serving the government, and that those who do serve the government are machines. They don’t make their own decisions because the government makes their choices for them. This is why Thoreau lives in the middle of nature and doesn’t pay his

Show More
Related

  • Thoreau's Use Of Rhetorical Devices In Civil Disobedience

    953 Words  | 4 Pages

    (389) Immediately, any American citizen is directly touched by this statement, and it gives a sense of truth and realization. Thoreau is aiming to challenge the status quo; the understanding that the government is responsible for any success of the country. For several people, he actually seemed to draw a sense of anger and resentment toward the government, which was exactly his goal. Emotional appeal is a major factor in making Civil Disobedience a timeless literary

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Grapes Of Wrath And Civil Disobedience

    1249 Words  | 5 Pages

    For Thoreau, the individual should take action against societal problems instead of relying on the government to change them. Although it is not people’s responsibility to completely change the way society runs, they need to make their opinions known in order for change to happen. If they do not agree with an idea, they cannot just vote by “a strip of paper merely, but [their] whole influence” (Thoreau 7). People must actively work to enact change. Voting through a strip of paper will not do anything since the government will continue doing what they choose unless they are met with resistance.

    Read More

  • Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

    1587 Words  | 7 Pages

    Thoreau believes “that government is best which governs least” and “that government is best which governs not at all” (Thoreau 1). Thoreau has exceptionally low expectations toward the government, he does not believe in the government because “they have persuaded the majority to alter them” ( Thoreau 1).Just like the armies also viewed as machines are programmed to function, the government has also managed to have their citizens alter them. Thoreau criticizes they way the government manages their issues because the government's remedy to issues is worst than the evil, they claim to take care of an issue but in reality they make it worst which expands to the issue that government is not capable of being equitable because it is filled with unjust individual who are brainwashed to do the task they are programmed to do. Individuals usually pursue the crowd, but Thoreau desires that one individual will wrangle to bring change to society.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience Rhetoric

    526 Words  | 3 Pages

    He criticizes citizens be stating that some citizens were “opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them.” He critiques the citizens in order to ridicule them, so that they might fight back because Thoreau believes that the most some citizens will do to state their opinion is merely, “give only a cheap vote.” This critical tone from the essayist hopefully will persuade people to speak their mind more. Thoreau closes his essay by posing a series of rhetorical questions that will hopefully motivate the citizens to become not only self-reliant, but also become more politically aware.

    Read More

  • Comparing Thoreau And Machiavelli

    563 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thoreau points out that, “but, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its 17 tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my children without

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis On Henry David Thoreau

    729 Words  | 3 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau: Biography and Rhetorical Analysis of His Works Henry David Thoreau and the transcendentalist movement can’t be summarized merely in a single sentence or even essay, though this quote comes close, “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” Transcendentalism is the belief that material things, the “comforts” and “luxuries” of which Thoreau speaks, are inferior to knowledge and spirituality. Thoreau was a major leader in this movement. Thoreau’s works, “Walden” “Main Woods”, and various poems of his helped to lay the foundations for Transcendentalism. Some 140 years after his death Thoreau is still being published, and written about.

    Read More

  • Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

    906 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thoreau made the decision to live alone for two years in the woods in a small cabin that he had constructed. yet he was also known for many other contributions that he made. As said by the editors of Biography.com, “He [Thoreau] also became known for his beliefs in Transcendentalism and civil disobedience, and was a dedicated abolitionist.” Through his work, Thoreau expresses a very distinct view of nature which can be both similar to and different from contemporary views today. In his text, Walden, Thoreau shows several views which are both agreed with and contested in today's society, these include agreeing that nature can teach us,

    Read More

  • Comparing Emerson And Transcendentalism

    330 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emerson is stating that nature is what makes him unique, without it he would be nothing. He think that everything that is good when he is in nature circulates through him. Nature teaches people to not think about all the bad things in life, live simply and taking it one day at a time. “Standing on the bare ground in my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into the infinite space.” – Emerson, What page #?

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Thoreau And Thomas Jefferson

    897 Words  | 4 Pages

    He objected the injustices of war and slavery, and practiced civil disobedience in his daily life. In the time of Thoreau writing Civil Disobedience, many people believed revolution against the government had not been necessary since the time of the American Revolution. However, Thoreau believes that resisting an abusive government is especially important at this point in time considering that, "a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law." According to Thoreau, it is the duty of American citizens to promptly revolutionize against slavery and the Mexican-American War, which have both been supported by the corrupted American

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In Emerson's Self Reliance

    1332 Words  | 6 Pages

    Thoreau’s view on the society as he states, “In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well” go to show that it was harder to have individuality and to refuse the governments ways. Now-a-days the practice of civil disobedience has allowed citizens to practice non-conformity with the protection of amendments but back then while the nation was just growing they had to have more power and that, “so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniency, it is the will of God that the established government be obeyed, and no longer" as quoted by Paley. The society was most likely pushed towards acceptance of the government and weren’t as self-reliant to make change in their

    Read More

  • Henry David Thoreau's Life

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thoreau highlights the simplicity of life as exemplified by his deliberate move to live in the woods underlining the required resilience when confronted with challenges in the environment where one can identify positive elements.

    Read More

  • Civil Disobedience, Mandela, And Henry David Thoreau

    399 Words  | 2 Pages

    Of course, before the quote he was also known for protesting over that nature is the key to everything. Nature is the only way to live free in liberty. “The government is best which govern not at all,” Thoreau stated. To this Thoreau wanted a government that had no control over the people, indicating that the government were then people. But he also supported that you must only get what you need not what

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Henry David Thoreau's Resistance To Civil Government

    2124 Words  | 9 Pages

    Thoreau 's views on the government by comparing the government to a machine. He states, ”When the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be ‘a counter friction’ (i.e., a resistance) "to stop the machine.” The two major issues being debated in the United States during his life was slavery and the Mexican-American War in which were major reasons he wrote his essays. In the mid to late 1840’s slavery has been indoctrinated into American society in which caused rifts between Americans.

    Read More

  • Henry David Thoreau And Emerson Comparison

    302 Words  | 2 Pages

    Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson had two different views on how America should be ran and two different views on society. Thoreau didn’t like people acting against the government, but he also believed that the government shouldn’t be in other people’s business. Emerson believed that the government should have power, but not control people’s lives. They both believed that the government shouldn’t be able to interfere in people’s lives. “Government is best which governs not at all.”

    Read More

  • Comparing Gandhi And Thoreau

    658 Words  | 3 Pages

    This citation shows that Thoreau did not want to follow the laws. Thoreau also believed in living life by following moral law and not law stated in the constitution. Thoreau also believed that the government does best if it does not rule over the people. In the essay Civil Disobedience it says “That government is best which governs least”. This shows what Thoreau felt the government should not do.

    Read More

More about Henry David Thoreau And Emerson Comparison

Open Document