Henry David Thoreau And The Transcendentalist Movement

The Transcendentalist Movement was known as a religious, philosophical, and liberty movement that came to be in the middle of the nineteenth century (Milne 836-858).Contrary to popular belief, the transcendentalist movement began as an "unorganized" movement, a group of Unitarian ministers sought out to break from the chains of "cliché cultural pieties" at the time. Instead they favored a "religious" experience of individualism and natural divinity. While it is unknown exactly during what years of the nineteenth century, critics believed it flourished somewhere between 1836 and 1846 lasting about decade. Surprisingly some of the works weren't published till the late 1850's (Whelan 799-802). The followers of transcendentalism drew inspiration

Thoreau, along with his family grew up with financial problems, which was a surprise since his ancestors had been of a prosperity and wealth (Harding). As a result Thoreau never stayed in one place too long constantly having to move. Even-though he was always on the move, Thoreau still kept his where he later attended Harvard University (Von Frank). One of the biggest events that influenced Thoreau was his night spent in jail in which he had wrote essay "Resistance to Civil Government". Thoreau had been sentenced to jail for neglecting to pay his taxes stating that he did not want his money going to support the Mexican War. In an attempt to connect with the universe Thoreau proceeded to go into the woods at Walden Pond. According to Thoreau he had went into the woods because he wished to live, to front only the essentials of life, and see if he could learn, what it had to reach, and not, when he came to die, discovered that he had not lived. (Darity, Jr. 357). One of Thoreau's major literary contributions was a simple nature book called "Civil Disobedience" a result of his night spent in jail. Till this day Thoreau has had influence on activist such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Another of the great poets that shared part of his childhood was Walt