This is "the Thoreau of the journals and later natural history projects," as Rochelle Johnson identifies the turn to Thoreau's more ecocentric work of the 1850s, focusing her attention on the abstractions of Emerson's rhetorical nature--that is, nature as raw material of tropes and symbols--in order to contrast the transcendental aesthetics Thoreau must overcome. ... While ecocriticism of Thoreau and Emerson has thus tended to dichotomize ecology and imagination in terms of the empirical versus the metaphorical, and in the service of sharply distinguishing Thoreau's ecocentrism ...

• Word Count: 9971
• Approx Pages: 40
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It is not considered a religion, a philosophy, or a literary theory, although it has elements of all three of those items. ... Thoreau"'s descriptions and interpretations of nature enriched all of his work; even his essays and lectures on political issues. ... The Dial was looked at as "a medium for the freest expression of thought on the questions which interest earnest minds in every community;" (Emerson: A Student's History). ... "Society and Solitude," published in 1870, marked the beginning of Emerson's decline as an essayist (Emerson: A Student's History). ... Eme...

• Word Count: 1271
• Approx Pages: 5

They were engendered by the romantic philosophy of desire to be free of convention and tyranny and the emphasis of the rights and dignity of the individual. ... But about Walter we have to say that he is an autodidact because most of Whitman's meaningful education came outside of school, when he visited museums, went to libraries, and attended lectures. He always recalled the first lecture he read, when he was ten years old. ... Later he would write the poem "There was a Child Went Forth" where he express his philosophy of teaching. ... This become the most famous frontispiece in litera...

• Word Count: 3041
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School