Transcendentalism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Henry David Thoreau, in "Walden", or "Life in the Woods", describes, among many other experiences, the transcendental life-style he experienced in his two-year experiment at Walden Pond. It looks at how the experiment at Walden was for Thoreau an attempt to live within nature, to "transcend" not real life but the prison of society and conformity which alienates man from himself, from others and from the spiritual reality which is the essence of nature. It shows how although Thoreau did not consider himself and would never have considered himself, a member of any group which confined his individualism and independence, his outlook on life, nature and man's primary concerns in life and nature coincided with many of the essential Transcendentalist principles. His experiences and writings in Walden reflect his alignment with the Transcendentalists.

From the Paper:

"Thoreau's transcendentalism is in part simply living in nature simply and economically, nurturing and restoring his spirit through a subtle communion with nature, a communion which does not negate the mind and reason, but which exercises and strengthens the mind and reason. His focus on the details of living economically in nature bespeaks the kind of balance in which the animals and plants in the ecology also live. He takes from nature only what he needs and he uses what efficiently everything he takes."

More papers on Transcendentalism:

• Analytical Essay # 123146 : "Thoreau and Transcendentalism"
• Analytical Essay # 102205 : "American Transcendentalism"
• Essay # 97937 : "American Transcendentalism"
• Book Review # 93669 : "Transcendentalism in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

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