Henry David Thoreau
About
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817-May 6, 1862) was an American transcendentalist. Throughout his life he was also an accomplished author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, and historian. He was educated at Harvard University in the 1830's. After graduating, he returned to his hometown of Concord where he met Ralph Waldo Emerson, who acted as a mentor for Thoreau. Emerson persuaded Thoreau to publish writing in The Dial, an American transcendentalist magazine. Emerson also helped to get Thoreau's work published into this magazine and his first essay published was Aulus Persius Flaccus.
Thoreau is well-known for book Walden where he talked about his experience living in a cabin near the Walden pond. Thoreau's reasoning for this experience was that he wanted to simplify his living and focus on self-sufficiency. He talks about many parts of his experience, including why he decided to leave. He writes about how he doesn't want to get into routine and make a "beaten track" for himself. He says how he wants to be on "the deck of the world" and experience new things, taking risks in doing so, instead of staying under in a cabin for his whole life.
Excerpt
"Some are dining in our ears that we Americans, and moderns generally, are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients, or even the Elizabethan men. But what is that to the purpose? A living dog is better than a dead lion. Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and no be the biggest pygmy he can be? Let everyone mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made." - Thoreau's Walden
Analysis
The overall gist of what Thoreau is saying here, is that it shouldn't matter what society's expectations for you are, because as an individual, one can rise above. When he's talking about the "living dog" being worth more than a "dead lion," he's referring to how Americans in this time period were thought of as less intelligent than men in the past. He's contradicting this point by pointing out that life is for the living and that men who are alive today are doing more good than those in the in the ancient times who are dead. Thoreau also uses an example with pygmies, a race of people in Australia who who usually under 5 feet tall. He says that a man shouldn't hand himself because he was born a pigmy. Instead, he should be the biggest pygmy that he can be. Thoreau is saying how he wants us to put aside all societal expectations and be the best individuals we can be. He wants people to make the most of what God has given you and be your own person instead of doing what others assume you will do.
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817-May 6, 1862) was an American transcendentalist. Throughout his life he was also an accomplished author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, and historian. He was educated at Harvard University in the 1830's. After graduating, he returned to his hometown of Concord where he met Ralph Waldo Emerson, who acted as a mentor for Thoreau. Emerson persuaded Thoreau to publish writing in The Dial, an American transcendentalist magazine. Emerson also helped to get Thoreau's work published into this magazine and his first essay published was Aulus Persius Flaccus.
Thoreau is well-known for book Walden where he talked about his experience living in a cabin near the Walden pond. Thoreau's reasoning for this experience was that he wanted to simplify his living and focus on self-sufficiency. He talks about many parts of his experience, including why he decided to leave. He writes about how he doesn't want to get into routine and make a "beaten track" for himself. He says how he wants to be on "the deck of the world" and experience new things, taking risks in doing so, instead of staying under in a cabin for his whole life.
Excerpt
"Some are dining in our ears that we Americans, and moderns generally, are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients, or even the Elizabethan men. But what is that to the purpose? A living dog is better than a dead lion. Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and no be the biggest pygmy he can be? Let everyone mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made." - Thoreau's Walden
Analysis
The overall gist of what Thoreau is saying here, is that it shouldn't matter what society's expectations for you are, because as an individual, one can rise above. When he's talking about the "living dog" being worth more than a "dead lion," he's referring to how Americans in this time period were thought of as less intelligent than men in the past. He's contradicting this point by pointing out that life is for the living and that men who are alive today are doing more good than those in the in the ancient times who are dead. Thoreau also uses an example with pygmies, a race of people in Australia who who usually under 5 feet tall. He says that a man shouldn't hand himself because he was born a pigmy. Instead, he should be the biggest pygmy that he can be. Thoreau is saying how he wants us to put aside all societal expectations and be the best individuals we can be. He wants people to make the most of what God has given you and be your own person instead of doing what others assume you will do.