Difference between revisions of "Henry David Thoreau"
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| − | '''Henry David Thoreau''' (1817-1862) was an American writer and philosopher, and along with [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. He is perhaps best known for his | + | '''Henry David Thoreau''' (1817-1862) was an American writer and philosopher, and along with [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], a major figure in the [[Transcendentalist]] movement. He is perhaps best known for his book ''Walden'', an account of a two year period during which he lived in relative solitude near the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, and ''Civil Disobedience'', an essay which depicts his arrest for refusing to pay a tax that would support the Mexican-American War and slavery. |
| − | Thoreau is sometimes thought of as a sort of | + | Thoreau is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a sort of hermit or vagabond, but in fact he was completely serious about carrying on the family business, a pencil factory. He made significant improvements in their manufacture, and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" ([[graphite]]) finer, to produce a higher-quality "lead." Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best manufactured in the U. S.<ref>Petroski, Henry (1989), "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." ''American Heritage of Invention and Technology,'' volume 5, issue 2[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1989/2]</ref><!--Also in Petroski's 1992 book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance"---> |
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| + | When asked, on his deathbed, whether he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded, "I did not know we had ever quarreled." | ||
==Notes and references== | ==Notes and references== | ||
Revision as of 02:36, April 28, 2007
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American writer and philosopher, and along with Ralph Waldo Emerson, a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. He is perhaps best known for his book Walden, an account of a two year period during which he lived in relative solitude near the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, and Civil Disobedience, an essay which depicts his arrest for refusing to pay a tax that would support the Mexican-American War and slavery.
Thoreau is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a sort of hermit or vagabond, but in fact he was completely serious about carrying on the family business, a pencil factory. He made significant improvements in their manufacture, and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" (graphite) finer, to produce a higher-quality "lead." Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best manufactured in the U. S.[1]
When asked, on his deathbed, whether he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded, "I did not know we had ever quarreled."