Henry Davis Thoreau1817---1862

The Doer

1817---1862

Why is Thoreau different from others?

• If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

• --- Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau, The Great

• 1. Dismissed as an idler, and a drifter and a minor writer and a wasted Harvard graduate, and almost forgotten in his day, and yet in our day, he is one of few writers who deserve the appellation “ great”.

• 2. He put into practice of principles of plain living and high thinking.

• 3. His journal of nearly 7000 pages transcribed his daily thoughts, observations, readings and encounters with nature and men.

Walden lake, where Thoreau found the real meaning of life.

A reproduction of the cabin where Thoreau lived fortwo years and two months

A modern reader of Thoreau in the historic cabin

The nameless and timeless Henry

His life

• 1. Born in Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817• 2. In Harvard College in 1833, and graduated in 1837 as one of the honor

students• 3. Opened a school, where he taught with his brother John• 4. 1839, made a trip on Concord and Merrimack rivers with John• 5. Helped Emerson edit The Dial and tutored Emerson’s children• 6. In March 1845 ( when 28)began to work on a cabin at Walden Pond, and on

July 4, moved into the Walden cabin• 7. 1846, arrested for nonpayment of poll tax• 8. Published Walden on August 9, 1856• 9. Met Walt Whitman in Brooklyn 1856• 10. In 1860, contracted the cold that led to his fatal illness, and died in

Concord on May 6, 1862• 11.In 1906, 20 volumes of Thoreau’s writings were published, including 14

volumes of his journal

Beauty originates from simplicity.

His major works

• 1.Walden , known for its modern style, simplicity of diction and figures of speech, has 200 different editions and been translated into every major modern language.

• 2. Walden was revised 8 times, and is read as the 19th century Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

• 3. Civil Disobedience is the result of his jailed experience in 1846, embodying the pioneering spirit of the American frontiersman and a development of the philosophy in the Declaration of Independence, having a great impact on Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Thoreau and Emerson

• A frog was made to live in a swamp, but a man was not made to live in a swamp.

• • I had tenderly cherished the

flower of our friendship till one day my friend treated it as a weed.

• • Emerson refused to recognize

Thoreau as a writer, but a hermit.

The past

The present

An American simplicity

The American literary tradition

• 1. Natty Bumpo---Civilized city and savaged woods

• 2. Ahba---Civilized ship and savaged sea• 3. Hester---Civilized village and savaged forest• 4. Huckleberry Finn---Civilized village and

savaged river• Thoreau---Civilized Concord and the wild Walden

lake

The American Cultural Tradition

Puritans Civilized England The New World 1. Freedom 2. Human rights 3. Democracy 4. Wealth

The main character The unknown world

The frontiersThe American Dream The West