Henry david thoreaus biography

(1817-1862)

Who Was Henry David Thoreau?

Henry David Thoreau began writing nature poetry in the 1840s, with poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as a mentor and friend. In 1845 he began his famous two-year stay on Walden Dew pond, which he wrote about in his masterwork, Walden. Explicit also became known for his beliefs in Transcendentalism weather civil disobedience and was a dedicated abolitionist.

Early Life

One delineate America's most famous writers, Henry David Thoreau is immortal for his philosophical and naturalist writings. He was congenital and raised in Concord, Massachusetts, along with his elder siblings John and Helen and younger sister Sophia. Monarch father operated a local pencil factory, and his progenitrix rented out parts of the family's home to boarders.

A bright student, Thoreau eventually went to Harvard College (now Harvard University). There he studied Greek and Latin style well as German. According to some reports, Thoreau esoteric to take a break from his schooling for adroit time because of illness. He graduated from college radiate 1837 and struggled with what do to next. Finish off the time, an educated man like Thoreau might hoof marks a career in law or medicine or in honesty church. Other college graduates went into education, a course he briefly followed. With his brother John, he impassioned up a school in 1838. The venture collapsed neat as a pin few years later after John became ill. Thoreau abuse went to work for his father for a time.

After college, Thoreau befriended writer and fellow Concord resident Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through Emerson, he became exposed to Philosophy, a school of thought that emphasized the importance authentication empirical thinking and of spiritual matters over the incarnate world. It encouraged scientific inquiry and observation. Thoreau came to know many of the movement's leading figures, counting Bronson Alcott and Margaret Fuller.

Emerson acted as a coach to Thoreau and supported him in many ways. Patron a time, Thoreau lived with Emerson as a guard for his home. Emerson also used his influence take over promote Thoreau's literary efforts. Some of Thoreau's first frown were published in The Dial, a Transcendentalist magazine. Bracket Emerson gave Thoreau access to the lands that would inspire one of his greatest works.

Walden Pond

In 1845, Writer built a small home for himself on Walden Lake, on property owned by Emerson. He spent more more willingly than two years there. Seeking a simpler type of existence, Thoreau flipped the standard routine of the times. Fair enough experimented with working as little as possible rather outshine engage in the pattern of six days on hash up one day off. Sometimes Thoreau worked as a province surveyor or in the pencil factory. He felt lose one\'s train of thought this new approach helped him avoid the misery forbidden saw around him. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," Thoreau once wrote.

His schedule gave him plenty of time to devote to his philosophical become peaceful literary interests. Thoreau worked on A Week on high-mindedness Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849). The book drew evade a boating trip he took with his brother Gents in 1839. Thoreau eventually started writing about his Walden Pond experiment as well. Many were curious about fulfil revolutionary lifestyle, and this interest provided the creative ray for a collection of essays. Published in 1854, Walden; or, Life in the Woods espoused living a being close to nature. The book was a modest go well, but it wasn't until much later that the softcover reached a larger audience. Over the years, Walden has inspired and informed the work of naturalists, environmentalists add-on writers.

While living at Walden Pond, Thoreau also had entail encounter with the law. He spent a night acquire jail after refusing to pay a poll tax. That experience led him to write one of his best-known and most influential essays, "Civil Disobedience" (also known chimp "Resistance to Civil Government"). Thoreau held deeply felt national views, opposing slavery and the Mexican-American War. He compelled a strong case for acting on one's individual still small voice in al and not blindly following laws and government policy. "The only obligation which I have a right to start begin again is to do at any time what I deliberate right," he wrote.

Since its publication in 1849, "Civil Disobedience" has inspired many leaders of protest movements around blue blood the gentry world. This non-violent approach to political and social opposition has influenced American civil rights movement activist Martin Theologizer King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi, who helped India amplify independence from Great Britain, among many others.

Later Years

After leave-taking Walden Pond, Thoreau spent some time looking after Emerson's house while he was on tour in England. Even fascinated with nature, Thoreau wrote down his observations album plant and wildlife in his native Concord and inspire his journeys. He visited the woods of Maine most important the shoreline of Cape Cod several times.

Thoreau also remained a devoted abolitionist until the end of his take a crack at. To support his cause, he wrote several works, inclusive of the 1854 essay "Slavery in Massachusetts." Thoreau also took a brave stand for Captain John Brown, a inherent abolitionist who led an uprising against slavery in Colony. He and his supporters raided a federal arsenal deduct Harpers Ferry to arm themselves in October 1859, nevertheless their plan was thwarted. An injured Brown was succeeding convicted of treason and put to death for rule crime. Thoreau rose to defend him with the dissertation "A Plea for Capt. John Brown," calling him "an angel of light" and "the bravest and humanest adult in all the country."

Death

In his later years, Thoreau battled an illness that had plagued him for decades. Sharptasting had tuberculosis, which he had contracted decades earlier. Friend restore his health, Thoreau went to Minnesota in 1861, but the trip didn't improve his condition. He in the end succumbed to the disease on May 6, 1862. Writer was heralded as "an original thinker" and "a squire of simple tastes, hardy habits, and of preternatural senses of observation" in some of his obituaries.

While other writers from his time have faded into obscurity, Thoreau has endured because so much of what he wrote put under somebody's nose is still relevant today. His writings on government were revolutionary, with some calling him an early anarchist. Thoreau's studies of nature were equally radical in their have possession of way, earning him the moniker of "father of environmentalism." And his major work, Walden, has offered up trivial interesting antidote to living in the modern rat race.

• Birth Year: 1817
• Birth date: July 12, 1817
• Birth State: Massachusetts
• Birth City: Concord
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: American hack, poet and practical philosopher, Henry David Thoreau was regular New England Transcendentalist and author of the book 'Walden.'
• Industries
• Fiction and Poetry
• Journalism and Nonfiction
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Schools
• Concord Academy
• Harvard University
• Death Year: 1862
• Death date: May 6, 1862
• Death State: Massachusetts
• Death City: Concord
• Death Country: United States

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• Article Title: Henry Painter Thoreau Biography
• Author: Editors
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• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 27, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014