Born In 1817, In Concord, Henry David Thoreau Became One Of The Greate

Born in 1817, in Concord, Henry David Thoreau became one of the greatest writers among the American Renaissance. Thoreau based his whole philosophy on the fact that man needed to get rid of material things in order to be an individual. An exquisitely educated man, Thoreau went to Harvard, which placed heavy emphasis on the classics. Thoreau studied a curriculum that included grammar and composition, mathematics, English, history, and various philosophies. He also spoke fluently in Italian, French, German, and Spanish. After his graduation in 1837, Thoreau became a teacher. He and his brother John, however, closed the school in 1841, for Thoreau knew writing was his passion. He kept a journal beginning in 1837, and most think he wrote way before that time. Thoreaus love for writing pushed him to make it a driving force in his life. Thoreau was also a big part of the Transcendentalists Movement. The Transcendentalists assumed that the soul and nature were the two essential parts of the universe. "Transcendentalism started as a radical religious movement, opposed to the rationalist, conservative institution that Unitarianism had become." Unitarians had expressed the need for and conviction of a more personal and intuitive experience of the divine. "If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." Individuality was a big part of Thoreaus life; he believed that independent, well-thought action arose naturally from a curious mind. Although many people visited him at Walden Pond, Thoreau preferred to be alone. "I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude." Thoreau liked solitude, a time when he wrote from his soul and was truly alone. Thoreaus love for nature was one of the most powerful aspects evident in Walden. Considered by some to be the father of the environmental movement, Thoreau referred back to nature in everything he wrote from essays to political speeches. As a simple man, Thoreau did not own many material things. For he believed that to own material objects were an obstacle, rather than an advantage. He saw that most people measured self-worth in terms of what they owned, rather than their spiritual and intellectual gifts. Thoreau proposed to live as simply as possible and determine what he needed for basic human survival. "My greatest skill is to want but little." He grew his own food, cleaned his own cabin, and often arranged his affairs so he had to work as little as possible. Published on August 9, 1854, Walden sold two thousand copies. For one dollar, people read into the depths of Thoreaus life at Walden Pond and all his views on everything from the anti-slavery movement to his environmental ideas. Walden sold moderately well during Thoreaus lifetime, but his greatest respects came posthumously. Through the reading of Walden, many people have discovered the magic of Henry David Thoreaus pen. Just a man from Concord, Massachusetts, he lived an extraordinary life as a simple man. That, however, was all Thoreau ever wanted to accomplish, to show people that a person could be an individual, live simple, and do without material things. With the publication of Walden, Thoreau showed the world that it was indeed possible; he had lived "to the beat of his own drummer."

Politicians and Humpty Dumpty

Politicians and Humpty Dumpty Politicians and Humpty Dumpty Politicians and Humpty Dumpty By Maeve Maddox When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less. The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words mean so many different things. The question is, said Humpty Dumpty, which is to be master thats all. (Through the Looking-Glass Chapter Six) I was in Arkansas the year that then-governor Mike Huckabee refused to sign a tornado relief bill because he objected to the conventional term act of God: act of God uncontrollable natural force first recorded 1882. (Online Etymology Dictionary) On December 31, 2007. the Los Angeles Times reminded the nation of this incident in an article that has stirred up a lot of blog commentary. In order to mitigate fears that the Baptist presidential hopeful would permit his religious beliefs to interfere with decisions of state, Huckabee apologists have come to his defense. They argue that Huckabee merely wanted to change the terminology so that insurance companies would pay. According to a NY Times story dated March 21, 1997, however, Huckabee refused to sign the bill because doing so would violate his conscience: Mr. Huckabee said that signing the legislation would be violating my own conscience inasmuch as it described a destructive and deadly force as being an act of God. Mr. Huckabeesuggested that the phrase acts of God be changed to natural disasters. All language is metaphor. The word is not the thing. The map is not the territory. I am reading a book, livre, boek, Buch, biblio, libro, livro. A rose by any name Words are labels. They mean what we say they mean. Changing acts of God to natural disasters will not alter the fact that insurance companies dont want to pay for damages caused by tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods. When a word or expression becomes a shibboleth, people suffer. shibboleth 1382, the Heb. word shibboleth flood, stream, also ear of corn, in Judges xii:4-6. It was the password used by the Gileadites to distinguish their own men from fleeing Ephraimites, because Ephraimites could not pronounce the -sh- soundA similar test-word was cicera chick pease, used by the Italians to identify the French (who could not pronounce it correctly) during the massacre called the Sicilian Vespers (1282). (Online Etymology Dictionary) The consequence of the wrong pronunciation for both Ephraimites and French was death. TIP: Relieve the tedium of political coverage during the next ten months. Keep a notebook by your TV chair. Collect words and expressions. Record those that upset the candidates, and the words they all use, but which carry no specific meaning and can therefore mean anything they want them to. Remember Humpty Dumpty. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Royal Order of Adjectives What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a RowWhat the heck are "learnings"?