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Born: July 12, 1817 - Concord, MA
Died: May 6, 1862 - Concord, MA
Excerpt from Walden

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to 'glorify God and enjoy him forever.'

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Teaching Topics in Social Studies
Thoreau helped found the TRANSCENDENTALIST movement, a philosophy that supported the ideas behind ABOLITION,
Timeline
CONSERVATION and other SOCIAL REFORMS. He lived and wrote against the backdrop of the rise of INDUSTRIALISM and the CIVIL WAR. He studied EASTERN PHILSOPHIES and, in light of his own refusal to pay his taxes, advocated for CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.
 

Teaching Topics in Language Arts
He influenced others with his ideas through published ESSAYS. Walden is a sort of MANIFESTO for environmental causes. It offers a mix of PERSONAL REFLECTION and POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY and action.
Scavenger Hunt
Who built the house Thoreau lived in at Walden Pond?
. . . answer . . .

Facts About Henry David Thoreau and Walden
  • Thoreau's Walden was first published (in part) in the New York Daily Tribune
  • Walden's initial printing was 2000 copies
  • By 1854 Thoreau had written eight different versions of Walden
  • Even though Thoreau lived on Walden for two years in Walden his time there is presented as one year
  • As a result of sentiments expressed in his works, Henry David Thoreau is often associated with conservation of the environment


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