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Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. [ 2] A leading transcendentalist, [ 3] he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an ...
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- You're Probably Mispronouncing Henry David Thoreau's name.
- Henry David Thoreau Invented A Machine to Improve Pencils.
- Henry David Thoreau Accidentally Burned Hundreds of Acres of Woods.
- Henry David Thoreau's House at Walden Pond Later Became A Pigsty.
- Henry David Thoreau and His Brother Both Fell in Love with The Same Woman.
- Despite Popular Misconception, Henry David Thoreau Wasn't A Loner.
- Henry David Thoreau Was A Minimalist.
- Henry David Thoreau Took Copious Notes.
- Henry David Thoreau Was Praised For His Originality.
- Don Henley of The Eagles Is A Huge Fan of Henry David Thoreau.
Born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817, David Henry Thoreau switched his first and middle names after graduating from Harvard. His legal name, though, was always David Henry. Although most people today pronounce Thoreau’s surname with the emphasis on the second syllable, he most likely pronounced it “THOR-oh.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s son, Edward, wr...
In the 1820s, Thoreau’s father started manufacturing black-lead pencils. Between teaching students, surveying land, and working as a handyman, Thoreau made money by working for his family’s pencil business. After researching German techniques for making pencils, he invented a grinding machine that made better quality plumbago(a mixture of the lead,...
In 1844, a year before moving into a house in Walden Woods, the 26-year-old Thoreau was cooking fish he had caught with a friend in the woods outside Concord. The grass around the fire ignited, and the flames burned between 100 and 300 acres of land, thanks to strong winds. Even years later, his neighbors disparagingly called him a rascal and a woo...
After Thoreau left the home he built in Walden Woods in 1847, the structure went through multiple iterations. He sold the house to Emerson (it was on land that Emerson already owned), and Emerson sold it to his gardener. The gardener never moved in, so the house was empty until a farmer named James Clark bought it in 1849. Clark moved it to his nea...
In 1839, Thoreau wrote in his journal about how he fell in love with Ellen Sewall, an 18-year-old from Cape Cod. In 1840, Thoreau’s older brother John proposed marriage to Sewall but was rejected. So, like any good brother, Thoreau wrote a letter to Sewall, proposing that she marry him instead. Sewall rejected him too, probably due to her family di...
Historians have debunked the misconception that Thoreau was a selfish hermit who lived alone so he could stay away from other people. Rather than being a loner, Thoreau was an individualist who was close to his family members and lived with Emerson’s family (on and off) for years. To build his cabin in the woods, he got help from his friends includ...
Long before tiny houses were trendy, Thoreau wrote about the benefits of living a simple, minimalist lifestyle. In Walden, he wrote about giving up the luxuries of everyday life in order to quiet the mind and have time for thinking. “My greatest skill has been to want but little,” he wrote. Thoreau also relatedhis love of simplicity to the craft of...
Although he was a minimalist, Thoreau wrote an abundance of notes and ideas in his journals, essays, and letters. He jotted down his observations of nature, writing in detail about everything from how plant seeds spread across the land to the changing temperature of Walden Pond to animal behavior. In addition to his plethora of notes and environmen...
In 1862, newspapers widely reported the news of Thoreau’s death. Obituaries for the 44-year-old writer appeared in The Boston Transcript, The Boston Daily Advertiser, The Liberator, The Boston Journal, The New-York Daily Tribune, and The Salem Observer. The obituaries describe Thoreau as an “eccentric author” and “one of the most original thinkers ...
As a big fan of both Thoreau and Transcendentalism, musician Don Henley of the Eagles started The Walden Woods Project in 1990 to stop 68 acres of Walden Woods from being turned into offices and condominiums. The project succeeded in saving the woods, and today The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization that conserves Walden Woods, preser...
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Jul 8, 2024 · Thoreau was born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, the third child of a feckless small businessman named John Thoreau and his bustling wife, Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau. Though his family moved the following year, they returned in 1823.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher Henry David Thoreau is renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism as recorded...
- Henry David Thoreau stayed for two years at Walden Pond (1845–47), where he lived in a cabin of his own making and survived off the land. Midway in...
- American essayist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau died on May 6, 1862, in Concord, Massachusetts.
Nov 29, 2019 · Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, the son of John Thoreau and his wife, Cynthia Dunbar. The New England family was modest: Thoreau’s father was involved with the Concord fire department and ran a pencil factory, while his mother rented out parts of their house to boarders and cared for the children.
Jun 20, 2013 · The fact that Thoreau never married doesn’t raise eyebrows until we get older. A few bold scholars have explored the mystery of his love life, but John Schuyler Bishop has now written a novel about it, appropriately titled Thoreau in Love (CreateSpace).
Jul 12, 2017 · As she painstakingly demonstrates, Thoreau — who never married (“All nature is my bride”) and who died at the age of 44 — was anything but the recluse that some have made him out to be.
Oct 11, 2021 · Page-Turner. Thoreau in Love. The writer had a deep bond with his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson. But he also had a profound connection with Emerson’s wife. By James Marcus. October 11, 2021....