Henry David Thoreau's Transcendentalist Movement

Henry David Thoreau lived through a time of great change in America and in the world. Born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau grew up in an environment that inspired many famous American authors such Nathanial Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau was ‘mentored’ under Emerson and started writing in the transcendentalist fashion. In the 1840s, Thoreau wrote poetry about nature and started to follow the transcendentalist movement. The transcendentalist movement was a large movement during Thoreau’s life. It stressed the need to be less materialistic and get back to nature. This was one of the main reasons Thoreau moved to Walden Pond in his one room shack. Also during Thoreau’s life was the abolitionist movement,