Santiago Alfaro

American literature
Period 6
Mr. Dayton

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Henry david thoreau believed that if you would rush things in life it would be a waste.

Emerson believed that individualism should be found in nature. Thoreau discouraged people

from acting against the government. Emerson believed that the government should have power

but not control of lives. Emerson and Thoreau used to live in the same house.

Emerson was an author from Boston MA. He was born on May 25,1803 and died April

27, 1882. Emerson’s quotes: patience and fortitude conquer all things. Emerson was the mentor

of Thoreau. Emerson’s belief was “God was best understood as a spirit, an ideal, a breath of

life”. Transcendentalists is an American literary movement that Emerson was influenced by.

Emerson said that “when a person is privileged to have another with whom they can be sincere

and not have to” to describe friendship.

Henry David Thoreau was another author. Henry moved in with Emerson in Boston, MA.

Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, Concord, MA. He died may 6, 1862. Thoreau quotes: rather

than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. Thoreau emphasized self-reliance,

individuality, and anti-materialism and sharply questioned. Another one is to adopt the pace of
nature:her secret is patience. Thoreau was a writer and naturalist, an abolitionist and a radical. He

went to Harvard, invented a new kinda pencil, wrote poetry, and researched native americans. In

july 1846, the sheriff arrested and jailed Thoreau for his tax delinquency. People say that

someone anonymously paid thoreau's taxes.

When Thoreau died Emerson said something at his funeral. He said “what you seek in

vain for, half your life, one day you come full upon all the family at dinner. You seek it like a

dream, and as soon as you find it you become its prey”. Thoreau and Emerson did not get along

that well. Thoreau noted in his journal during his stay at Walden his feelings in regard to

Emerson's influence, and his ideals. Thoreau felt betrayed , Emerson alienated and disappointed.

Thoreau discouraged people from acting against the government. He also believed that the

government shouldn't be messing into other people's business. Emerson believed that the

government should have power but not control people's lives.