The Naturalists Of American Literature - 1087 Words

Jordan Wilson Cole Tracee Howell American Literature 4/9/2015 The Naturalists of American Literature Henry David Thoreau tests the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson by living at a place known as Walden Pond. Here at Walden Pond, Thoreau discovers that in a physical aspect, nature brings a deepness into our minds and into our souls. One’s imagination is uplifted, and this changes a person’s entire perspective of life. Both Thoreau and Emerson believed that nature forces people to not have to depend on others ideas. People are able to develop their own ideas in a more simplistic way. Nature’s ever-changing way continues the search for new explanations of human life. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are considered to be two of the†¦show more content†¦Here Emerson explains how people take from what their ancestors and others before them have said and do not think twice about trying new things for themselves. Emerson decides not to conform to the modern way of society, but instead to be an individual and find things out for himself. Thoreau takes this idea of life and puts it to test at Walden Pond where he lives alone almost completely off of the land. Thoreau had almost no resources from the civilized world and hardly ever communicated with anyone but nature itself. Thoreau’s idea at Walden Pond was for him to become more in tune with the natural world and to be able to create the literature that is known in the world today. In Emerson’s work â€Å"Nature,† Emerson believes that by being in a simple environment, a person is able to see things more in depth and in a more complex way. Emerson states,  "Standing on the bare ground- my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into space- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the universal being circulate through me; I am part or particle of god† (1827-1828). Emerson’s thoughts are deeper, and his mind is open to any ideas that nature may bring his way. When simplicity of character and the sovereignty of ideas is broken up by the prevalence of secondary desires, the desires of riches, of pleasure, of power, and of praise,- and