thoreau and transcendentalism

A detailed Summary of thoreau and transcendentalism


The beauty in the strength of mere words and the immense impact they have on the soul of man has been the inspiration to many of the greatest poets and writers. The ability to combine elegance with knowledge and thereupon affect the thoughts of others using only paper and pen has intrigued men for centuries. Each generation produces those who vehemently speak out against injustices by their written words. Henry David Thoreau proved to be the voice of his people and thus changed history by expressing the ideals he believed to be correct, though the majority of the people did not always understand these ideals. "I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations" . He believed in the oneness of individual souls with nature and with God, which gave dignity and importance to human activity and made possible a belief in the power to effect social change in harmony with God's purposes. Thoreau tore the veil of conventional thought away from societies clouded eyes.

Born on a calm, mid-summer night of 1817 to a family of neither wealth nor importance, Thoreau became exposed to the reality of li


Transcendentalism earned a reputation as a "collection of miscellany" because such variety of thought is built into the definition . Thoreau would encourage his readers to go their own way rather than emulate the author. Transcendentalists were idealistic and optimistic because they believed they could find answers to whatever they were seeking. All they had to do was learn to read the external symbols of nature and translate them into spiritual facts. A transcendentalist declared there was meaning in everything and that meaning was good, all connected by parts of a divine plan.

Thoreau's passion for this philosophy was evident in all that he wrote and all that he did. He held to his beliefs and encouraged others to find what transcendentalism could mean to them. Each individual has the power to create a separate and meaningful form of the philosophy for themselves. If transcendentalism has urged only one person to re-examine his life and find meaning in his actions, then Henry Thoreau has made a lasting contribution to the morality of society.

Reality exists only in the world of the spirit. What a person observes in the physical world are only appearances of impermanent reflections of the world of the spirit. Transcendentalism opposes the philosophy of empir

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Approximate Word count = 856
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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