Thoreau, << THUHR oh or thuh ROH, >> Henry David (1817-1862), was an American writer. He is remembered for his attacks on the social institutions he considered immoral and for his faith in the religious significance of nature. The essay “Civil Disobedience” is his most famous social protest. Walden, a study of Thoreau’s experiment in living close to nature, is chiefly responsible for his literary reputation.
His life.
Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817. He was christened David Henry Thoreau but changed his name to Henry David after graduating from college. Unlike most leading writers of his time, Thoreau came from a family that was neither wealthy nor distinguished. His father made pencils in a small shop. His mother took in boarders.
Thoreau graduated from Harvard College in 1837. He soon met the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson encouraged Thoreau to write, gave him useful criticism, and later employed him as a gardener and handyman. Emerson also taught Thoreau the philosophy of transcendentalism (see Transcendentalism).
Thoreau had only two books published in his lifetime, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) and Walden. Thoreau died on May 6, 1862. Many of the books published after his death were based on trips he had taken. These books include Excursions (1863), The Maine Woods (1864), Cape Cod (1865), and A Yankee in Canada (1866). The books are organized in a loose chronological form that takes the reader through the author’s experiences.
His beliefs and works.
Thoreau believed that people must be free to act according to their own idea of right and wrong, without government interference. In “Civil Disobedience” (1849), he said that people should refuse to obey any law they believe is unjust. Thoreau practiced this doctrine of passive resistance when, in 1846, he refused to pay poll taxes. He did so to express his opposition to slavery as it became an issue in the Mexican War. Thoreau spent one night in jail for his refusal.
Thoreau summed up his idea of the role of government in “Civil Disobedience.” He wrote, “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” The essay greatly influenced such reformers as Leo Tolstoy of Russia and Mohandas Gandhi of India. It also influenced Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leaders of the American civil rights movement.
Thoreau called for an end to slavery. He attacked it in the essay “Slavery in Massachusetts” (1854). He defended abolitionist John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry in “A Plea for Captain John Brown” (1859).
In 1845, Thoreau moved to the shore of Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. He lived there alone from July 4, 1845 to Sept. 6, 1847. Walden (1854) records Thoreau’s observations of nature there. It tells how he built his house, paid his bills, and spent his time. It also tells about his visitors and reports what he read and thought. On a deeper level, the book is a celebration of people living in harmony with nature.
Thoreau insisted that his trip to Walden Pond was an experiment in simple living, not an idle withdrawal from society. He wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” He appealed to people to economize, to simplify their lives. He believed that they would thus save the time and energy that would allow them “to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. …”
See also Civil disobedience (History of civil disobedience); Walden.
