Talk:Henry David Thoreau
From Academic Kids
seriously to me it seems like thoreau has a lot of issue of possible hypocrisy,, especially consdiering his ideas 'original' to him. like to see something about that somewhere.
I would need some particulars to understand what you mean. Thoreau cites hundreds of sources in his books, always giving credit where it is due. You can always attribute a person's ideas to earlier influences; but true originality lies in collecting the wisdom of the past and making it relevant to the present and future. By expressing the importance of low material consumption and the preservation of natural resources, Thoreau was highly original for his day. --WH
Can anyone confirm what I have heard, that he was also jailed for non-compliance with compulsory tithes to the state-established church he was deemed to be affiliated to? I know he had strong conscientious objections, and I gather he actually got jailed for that too. I am pretty confident of this but don't have the reference to hand. I have used him as an example under Tithes. PML.
- I don't think he was actually jailed in this case. Scott Burley 00:47, May 5, 2004 (UTC)
- Yes, here's the text from Civil Disobedience:
Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, and commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended, but never I myself. "Pay," it said, "or be locked up in the jail." I declined to pay. But, unfortunately, another man saw fit to pay it. I did not see why the schoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest, and not the priest the schoolmaster: for I was not the State's schoolmaster, but I supported myself by voluntary subscription. I did not see why the lyceum should not present its tax-bill, and have the State to back its demand, as well as the Church. However, at the request of the selectmen, I condescended to make some such statement as this in writing:—"Know all men by these presents, that I, Henry Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society which I have not joined." This I gave to the town clerk; and he has it. The State, having thus learned that I did not wish to be regarded as a member of that church, has never made a like demand on me since; though it said that it must adhere to its original presumption that time. If I had known how to name them, I should then have signed off in detail from all the societies which I never signed on to; but I did not know where to find a complete list. Scott Burley 00:49, May 5, 2004 (UTC)
i think someone should disambiguate the link to M. L. King -- i assume this is meant to link to MLK Jr. but i am not certain enough to edit it myself. (v)
- done. --Goethean 03:23, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
As for Thoreau and Lincoln being the only noted Americans that opposed the Mexican War: according to John A. Crow's "The Epic of Latin America", the Mexican War was quite unpopular, and the least popular American war until Vietnam. I am sure there were others.
Jorge Luis Borges considered Thoreau as an anarchist thinker - would anyone care to elaborate on this? I haven't read enough of Thoreau's work to decide if this is the case.
Wilderness as public land
He was an early advocate of recreational hiking and canoeing, of conserving natural resources on private land, and of preserving wilderness as public land. This may be somewhat true but I am not sure.. Where does Thoreau write this?KAM 13:46, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- I can't give a citation, but Thoreau definitely stood for having wilderness be public land. One of his disagreements with Emerson was over trespassing -- Emerson was against it. --Goethean 14:30, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I am not familar with the trespassing. He does say a township where a primitive forest waves...is fitted not only for corn and potatoes but also to rasie poets and philosophers. He speaks of the wilderness as a source of raw materials, He used logging roads to travel about in the what he called wilderness on his trips to Maine.KAM 15:19, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
- Why should not we, who have renounced the king’s authority, have our national preserves, where no villages need be destroyed, in which the bear and panther, and some even of the hunter race, may still exist, and not be "civilized off the face of the earth," — our forests, not to hold the king’s game merely, but to hold and preserve the king himself also, the lord of creation, — not for idle sport or food, but for inspiration and our own true re-creation? [The Maine Woods "Chesuncook"]KAM 11:52, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Thoreau...lazy???
There are accounts of Thoreau being a lazy person. He seemed to have relied on friends and family during his stay at Walden Pond. Anyone know if this is true?
- Laziness would probably be the typical accusation by a member of society to someone who rejects the materialism and complacency of that society. But Thoreau's extensive and detailed studies of plants and animals, in addition to his literary and other work show this to be inaccurate. --goethean 18:46, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
vegetarian
He was vegetarian?? Is there a source for this? In Walden he catches fish. In Allegash and East Branch he eats moose meat and elswhere shows spending money for pork.KAM 14:11, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- I also doubted the claim that he was a vegetarian. I checked Walden for Thoreau's thoughts about eating meat and fish. This quote seems relevant: I have found (...) that I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect (...) with every year I am less a fisherman, (...) at present I am no fisherman at all. But I see that if I were to live in a wilderness I should again be tempted to become a fisher and hunter in earnest. (...) I had rarely for many years used animal food (...) (Higher Laws, p.192-193 in the Oxford World's Classics edition). So it seems that he was a (not very strict) vegetarian for at least a few years. Sietse 18:35, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Yes I saw that also, that is why I left this in "he ate relatively little meat and advocated vegetarianism as a means of self-improvement." While he was in Maine (in a wilderness) it seems he ate fish, pork or moose frequently. Perhaps it could be worded more clearly.KAM 19:05, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
