Although you can't all watch it now, you all should watch the video above where a guide from Walden Pond gives a tour of the site where Henry David Thoreau moved to get away from the world.
I think what I find the most interesting from this video is the point that Thoreau was an early conservationist- that is, someone who wanted to protect and preserve the natural world around him. He cataloged birds, animals, plants, etc around him. If you go to the original website, there is an article about the video that mentions at the end that "Conservation biologists reported in 2008 - based on Thoreau's research- that common species are flowering 7 days earlier than they did during his day and 27% of the species he studied have disappeared (another 36% are endangered)." This is pretty incredible. That the research that he did 150 years ago, tells us how we, modern man, has changed the environment. Here is the link to the article. It's pretty short but has interesting information about the site and about Thoreau himself.
Here is the funny thing about Thoreau. He built his cabin on land that Ralph Waldo Emerson owned (with his permission). Yes, this is the author we just finished reading. I didn't realize that they knew each other, and upon doing a little research, I found that they knew each other well, good friends. So, it is no wonder that their writing is very similar in theme.
Emerson was interested in the idea that each person has to develop his or her own understanding of the universe, or the Natural World and God. While Emerson never wrote about Nature and agreed that one needed to go out into the world to find true meaning, Thoreau went out into the woods, alone, for a long time- to develop his own understanding. Did he find it? Well, he certainly begins to tell us in the excerpt from Walden that we are going to read.
What do you think? Do you agree with Emerson's belief that we should follow our own convictions, live by our own opinions, and not imitate the ideas or follow the convictions of others?
Thoreau went into the woods to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...". What do you think about someone who decides to go to the middle of nowhere to think and write? Where would you go, if you could go anywhere, to think and write?
If you want to learn more about Thoreau, I found an excellent annotated version of Walden here.
I think what I find the most interesting from this video is the point that Thoreau was an early conservationist- that is, someone who wanted to protect and preserve the natural world around him. He cataloged birds, animals, plants, etc around him. If you go to the original website, there is an article about the video that mentions at the end that "Conservation biologists reported in 2008 - based on Thoreau's research- that common species are flowering 7 days earlier than they did during his day and 27% of the species he studied have disappeared (another 36% are endangered)." This is pretty incredible. That the research that he did 150 years ago, tells us how we, modern man, has changed the environment. Here is the link to the article. It's pretty short but has interesting information about the site and about Thoreau himself.
Here is the funny thing about Thoreau. He built his cabin on land that Ralph Waldo Emerson owned (with his permission). Yes, this is the author we just finished reading. I didn't realize that they knew each other, and upon doing a little research, I found that they knew each other well, good friends. So, it is no wonder that their writing is very similar in theme.
Emerson was interested in the idea that each person has to develop his or her own understanding of the universe, or the Natural World and God. While Emerson never wrote about Nature and agreed that one needed to go out into the world to find true meaning, Thoreau went out into the woods, alone, for a long time- to develop his own understanding. Did he find it? Well, he certainly begins to tell us in the excerpt from Walden that we are going to read.
What do you think? Do you agree with Emerson's belief that we should follow our own convictions, live by our own opinions, and not imitate the ideas or follow the convictions of others?
Thoreau went into the woods to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...". What do you think about someone who decides to go to the middle of nowhere to think and write? Where would you go, if you could go anywhere, to think and write?
If you want to learn more about Thoreau, I found an excellent annotated version of Walden here.
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