Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, April 25, 2019

The Life Of Thoreau


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Henry Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. His father and Uncle made their living by crafting pencils. Thoreau and his parents loved nature and being outdoors. He completed education at Concord Academy in 1833 and then went on to attend Harvard University. However, in May of 1836, he became ill with what is now believed to be tuberculosis and could not return to Harvard. He did return to Harvard later and graduated with a bachelor’s of arts in 1837.
He returned home and worked as a teacher for two weeks before quitting after refusing to use punishment for the kids he was teaching. Because of the Panic of 1837, Thoreau had difficulty finding another teaching job so he ended up taking a job in his father’s pencil factory and improved the designs. In the fall of 1838, Henry opened Concord Academy with his brother, John. Concord Academy did not use physical punishment and took the kids on many trips in the outdoors and to local businesses.
Thoreau published his first book “ A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers” in 1849. It was based on a two week trip that he and his brother, John, took up into the mountains of New Hampshire in the summer of 1839. His brother became ill in 1841 and Henry could no longer afford to run the school on his own and had to shut down Concord Academy. John later died from tetanus in 1842 and Henry Thoreau suffered from depression after the loss of his brother.
In April 1844, Thoreau and fellow friend Edward Hoar accidentally set a forest fire while on a camping trip on the Sudbury River. A stray spark from their campfire started the forest fire. The two ran for help but unfortunately over 300 acres burned resulting in two thousand dollars worth of damage to three local landowners. Word spread around the small town of Concord that Thoreau was one of the two people involved in the forest fire and he was harassed by the locals for some time after.
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Around 1845, Thoreau moved out to Waldens Pond and built himself a cabin on 14 acres. The land belonged to Ralph Waldo Emerson. He chose to move out to Waldens Pond to learn about the important things of life and see if he had truly been living. Thoreau spent his time at Waldens Pond constructing his first book in honor of his brother and taking odd jobs to pay for the things he could not grow or make. He was arrested in 1846 for failing to pay taxes on what he believed was supporting the Mexican-American War. After spending one night in jail, an unknown person paid Thoreau’s debt. This later inspired his writing, “Civil Disobedience”. He moved out of his cabin in 1847 to care for Emerson’s family while he was away. In 1854, Thoreau published “Walden” based on his time at Waldens Pond, which turned out to be a success. In late 1860, Thoreau caught bronchitis and became bedridden. He died of tuberculosis on May 6, 1862. He was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

This is a video about Thoreau's life at Waldens Pond. 

3 comments:

  1. Olivia Garrett Section 9
    I commented on the horse post and the veggie tales post.

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    Replies
    1. Great, but this is not the place to report that. Link to this post in your own report.

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  2. Thoreau was a peripatetic, a naturalist, and a transcendentalist. Can you say a bit about what each of those identities has to do with the others? And, why did he think living alone in the woods would help him live more "deliberately" etc.?

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