Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau "Simplify! was Thoreau 's motto" in his life (Stanley 20). He showed people how to live simple life by living a simple life in Walden. Due to Thoreau 's efforts and works on nature people considers a nature an important part in their lives, as a result nature became one of the top topics in 21st century. Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts (Meltzer 11). His parents were John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau (12). Henry had three siblings named Helen, John Jr. and Sophia (12). The Thoreau family continuously moved to different places in search for better living conditions (11). Henry 's father John had difficulties finding a job (13). He eventually started a very famous pencil making business (13). Henry 's parents named him David Henry Thoreau, "after his uncle David Thoreau" (Stanley 16). Thoreau changed his name to Henry David Thoreau (Olson 14). He changed his name because "people called him Henry" (Stanley 16). Henry and his siblings went to same school (Stanley 16). First, they went to school called "Concord 's Public Grammar School" (16). At his school all students for all grades, "sat together on hard benches" (16). Although Henry 's family could not really afford a private school, Henry still went to private school named "Concord academy" (16). He went to Concord academy from age eleven until sixteen (16). He was very quite child at school, as he often did not play games with children (Olson 30). Henry had many nicknames like "Judge" and "the fine scholar with big nose" (30-32). These nicknames came from children at his school because he did not join in their play (30-32). Since he was born, he was very interested in nature and natural phenomena (Olson 33). At age eleven, he wrote famous piece of writing about seasons (Meltzer 15). The writing about the seasons stated like this:
The Seasons
Why do the seasons change? And Why
Does Winter 's stormy brow appear?
Is it the word of him
The Seasons
Why do the seasons change? And Why
Does Winter 's stormy brow appear?
Is it the word of him
Cited: Burleigh, Robert. A Man Named Thoreau. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Gray, Paul. "Unregarded Berries." Time 29 November 1999. 18 May 2009 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992699,00.html> Meltzer, Milton. A Biography Henry David Thoreau. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007. Olson, Steven P. Henry David Thoreau American Naturalist, Writer, And Transcendentalists. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2006. "Part Way with Thoreau." Time 9 February 1968. 5 May 2009 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,844391,00.html> Stanley, Phyllis M. American Environmental Heroes. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc, 1996. Woodlief, Ann. "Henry David Thoreau." American Transcendentalism Web. 26 June 2007. 19 May 2009 <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/>