Thoreau
Transcendentalist cabin dweller
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American writer and philosopher associated with transcendentalism.
His most famous work, *Walden*, recounts two years living simply in a cabin near Walden Pond.
His essay "Civil Disobedience" influenced later figures including Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Thoreau has become shorthand for deliberate, reflective living close to nature: He went full Thoreau and moved off-grid.
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
- woodsForested area
- pondSmall still body
- cabinSimple wooden dwelling
- ecologyStudy of environmental relations
conservation · flora · fauna · biodiversity · hiking · botanizing · birdwatching · seasons
Author of short prose
- naturalistStudent of nature
- poetWriter of verse
- abolitionistOpponent of human bondage
- lecturerOne who teaches formally
journalist · surveyor · Walden · Cape Cod · journal · manuscript · American Renaissance · Concord
Intuition-based American idealist movement
- self-relianceDepending on oneself alone
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- deliberate livingPurposeful approach to existence
- simplicityLack of complexity
conscience · civil disobedience · nonconformity · idealism · self-culture · intuition · spiritual awakening · moral law
State of being alone
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- journalingRegular personal writing practice
- meditationFocused attention practice
self-examination · dawn · morning · awakening · mindfulness · observation · attention · quietude
Aesthetic of reduction
- frugalityEconomical resource management
- economySystem of trade and production
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
- austerityEnforced economic stringency
deliberate living · essentialism · plain living · decluttering · cabin life · bean field · handmade · subsistence
Peaceful refusal to obey
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- noncooperationRefusing to work together
- conscientious objectionMoral refusal to fight
- tax resistanceRefusing to pay duties
abolitionism · antislavery · Underground Railroad · poll tax · Mexican-American War · Gandhi · satyagraha · Martin Luther King
wilderness
Uncultivated, uninhabited natural region
ecology · conservation · flora · fauna · biodiversity · hiking · botanizing · birdwatching · seasons · solitude
essayist
Author of short prose
- naturalistStudent of nature
- poetWriter of verse
- abolitionistOpponent of human bondage
lecturer · journalist · surveyor · Walden · Cape Cod · journal · manuscript · American Renaissance · Concord · Harvard
Transcendentalism
Intuition-based American idealist movement
- self-relianceDepending on oneself alone
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- deliberate livingPurposeful approach to existence
simplicity · conscience · civil disobedience · nonconformity · idealism · self-culture · intuition · spiritual awakening · moral law · examined life
solitude
State of being alone
- introspectionObserving one's own mind
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- journalingRegular personal writing practice
meditation · self-examination · dawn · morning · awakening · mindfulness · observation · attention · quietude · retreat
minimalism
Aesthetic of reduction
- frugalityEconomical resource management
- economySystem of trade and production
- self-sufficiencyIndependence from outside aid
austerity · deliberate living · essentialism · plain living · decluttering · cabin life · bean field · handmade · subsistence · reduce
civil disobedience
Peaceful refusal to obey
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- noncooperationRefusing to work together
- conscientious objectionMoral refusal to fight
tax resistance · abolitionism · antislavery · Underground Railroad · poll tax · Mexican-American War · Gandhi · satyagraha · Martin Luther King · nonviolent resistance
- American EssaysEmerson, self-reliance, Walden, civil disobedience, transcendentalism
- TranscendentalistsRalph Waldo Emerson, Emerson
- American Philosophypragmatism, William James, John Dewey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, transcendentalism
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- 1800s AmericaOregon Trail, Trail of Tears, transcontinental railroad, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
- AuthorsShakespeare, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Thoreauconformist
One following accepted norms
organization man · company man · yes-man · follower · Andrew Carnegie
ThoreauAndrew Carnegie
Scottish-American steel magnate
Henry Ford · Robert Moses · industrialist · robber baron · urbanist
ThoreauJ.P. Morgan
Gilded Age banking titan
Rockefeller · Carnegie · robber baron · materialist · Donald Trump