Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American author, essayist, poet, abolitionist, and philosopher. He, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, was one of the major figures of the Transcendentalism movement. The text below is taken from his best known work, Walden, a reflection upon his two years spent living in the wilderness near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.
Pair “Excerpt from ‘Walden’: Where I Lived and What I Lived For” with “The Poet” and ask students to compare the two texts’ reflections on the nature of life. What observations about human nature does Thoreau have at Walden Pond? What observations about human nature does the speaker in “The Poet” have while writing their poems? Identify lines in both works that point towards similar observations of human nature. What advice might Thoreau give someone who is engaged in “habitual loathing” as the speaker from “The Poet” observes? Why do you think these two writers, writing 100 years apart, had similar observations? Do you think someone writing today would have observations that were more similar or different to these writers? Why?
