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19th-Century American Literature Videos 35 videos
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ELA 11: 4.2a Henry David Thoreau 248 Views
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Description:
If you ever feel like taking off, living in the woods alone, and refusing to pay for anything, just tell people you're a transcendentalist. They'll respect you more.
Transcript
- 00:03
Ah, the simple life... That's the life for Henry David Thoreau. [Thoreau in the wilderness]
- 00:07
No crazy parties, no loud, crowded places. Yeah, he was a Netflix and chill kind of [crowded party]
- 00:14
guy. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817. While he later [Concord, MA on a map]
- 00:19
dismissed college as a place where students couldn't pick up a practical [Thoreau at college]
- 00:22
skill to save their lives, he thoroughly enjoyed himself at Harvard reading as [Thoreau reads at Harvard]
Full Transcript
- 00:27
many books been taking as many classes as he could. Yeah, he was one of those kids. In
- 00:32
1837, Thoreau happened to attend a lecture given by Ralph Waldo Emerson, high [Emerson speaks]
- 00:36
lord of the Transcendentalists. Thoreau loved what Emerson had to say, and he
- 00:40
introduced himself. The two became such good friends that Thoreau eventually [Emerson and Thoreau meet]
- 00:44
became Emerson's housekeeper and the "manny" to his kids... He was basically Mary
- 00:50
Poppins, minus the umbrella and high heels, and flying and all that. But then [Thoreau dressed as Mary Poppins]
- 00:54
in 1842, tragedy struck. Thoreau's older brother and his best friend died. [brother and friend die]
- 00:58
A devastated Thoreau took to wandering the New England woods and setting forest [Thoreau wanders through woods]
- 01:03
fires. Well, to Smokey the Bear, he was public enemy number one. Okay, so he [Smokey the bear appears]
- 01:07
didn't start fires... at least not on purpose, anyway. In 1845, Emerson asked Thoreau to
- 01:12
replant trees on his property at Walden Pond. It was at this point that Thoreau [Thoreau and Emerson talk]
- 01:16
had the idea that would make him famous. See, Thoreau couldn't understand why [Thoreau has idea]
- 01:20
people were so gung-ho about industrialization. He didn't get why his
- 01:24
fellow Americans were so dead set on acquiring stuff. Thoreau wanted to live
- 01:29
as simply as possible, so he decided to build a cabin on the shores of Walden [Thoreau builds cabin]
- 01:32
Pond and well, basically do just that. Now Thoreau's experiment wasn't as
- 01:37
radical as he would later make it sound. While he did grow his own food and
- 01:40
perform odd jobs around town, he was living rent-free on Emerson's property. [Thoreau lives in cabin]
- 01:45
Not to mention the fact that both Emerson and mama Thoreau lived right down the
- 01:49
street and were always looking to feed Thoreau a hot meal. While people frequently
- 01:53
criticized Thoreau for being an unmotivated hippie, which we at Shmoop [Thoreau as a hippie]
- 01:57
actually think is kind of cool, the fact is that he got a lot of writing
- 02:01
done while he lived in his cabin. Well, much of that writing would become the
- 02:04
book Walden, which laid out Thoreau's ideas on nature and conservation. While [Thoreau writes Walden]
- 02:09
Thoreau wasn't necessarily the first environmentalist, he was the first to try
- 02:13
and formulate a coherent philosophy about environmentalism itself. By 1848, [Environmentalist philosophy forms]
- 02:18
Thoreau had moved out of his cabin and embarked on a one-man crusade against [Thoreau protests government]
- 02:22
the U.S. government. Thoreau hated slavery, and he hated the Mexican-American war. There
- 02:27
was a lot of hate in such a peaceful guy. But yeah, he believed the American
- 02:31
government to be unjust, so he refused to support it. He refused to pay his poll [Thoreau criticizes president]
- 02:36
tax, a crime that got him thrown in prison overnight. And remember, poll tax [Thoreau in jail]
- 02:40
was so you could vote, right? Thoreau was perfectly willing to rot in jail for longer, but a
- 02:45
friend bailed him out against his will. "Against his will"... sure there, Henry. In 1849, Thoreau's [friend bails Thoreau out]
- 02:52
discourse on this experience was published as a text entitled Civil
- 02:56
Disobedience. His words would go on to inspire Martin Luther King Jr. and [Civil Disobedience inspires others]
- 03:00
others working for equal rights. Well, in 1862, Thoreau died of a cross between
- 03:04
consumption and a bad cold. While many people thought him a silly and [Thoreau dies]
- 03:09
self-indulgent sort of fellow, the fact is that Thoreau was perfectly happy doing
- 03:13
his own thing. And check out some of those shows on Alaska on Discovery [modern Alaska TV show]
- 03:17
Channel if you want an idea for the modern day version. He also inspired many people to worry less
- 03:22
about buying lots of stuff and spend more time doing things that actually [man in cluttered garage]
- 03:26
matter. Like, you know, accidentally torching Walden Woods. [woods on fire]
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