DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52538#0017
CHAPTER I.
Religion.
I.—Introductory.
The world has in all ages found it marvellous when a
man, contrary to the natural desire for life and self-realization
in the world, has withdrawn himself from it; and that in the
nineteenth century, in practical, Protestant America, Tho-
reau, young, physically robust and highly educated, should
renounce, not only worldly pleasure, but practically the whole
struggle for existence, could not fail to excite especial wonder
and much speculation as to his motives.
‘‘Few lives contain so many renunciations,” writes
Emerson. “He was bred to no profession; he never mar-
ried ; he lived alone ; he never went to church; he never
voted ; he refused to pay a tax to the State ; he ate no flesh ;
he drank no wine ; he never knew the use of tobacco, and,
though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose,
wisely, no doubt, for himself, to be the bachelor of thought
and nature ’ ’ *
Naturally, such a life met with little sympathy from
Thoreau’s fellow-countrymen, who, for the most part, attrib-
uted his course to selfishness, a lack of energy and the desire
to shirk all responsibility as a citizen of the State and a man
among men. His whole life demonstrated, however, that
these accusations were without foundation and that such mo-
tives could play no part in influencing his decision. Yet even
Emerson, his great contemporary and friend, who himself led
a singularly unworldly and free imaginative life, did not see
the full significance of Thoreau’s negation of life, and could
* From the address delivered by R. W. Emerson at Thoreau’s fu-
neral and printed in the “ Atlantic Monthly,” August, 1862. See Preface,
“ Miscellanies.”
Religion.
I.—Introductory.
The world has in all ages found it marvellous when a
man, contrary to the natural desire for life and self-realization
in the world, has withdrawn himself from it; and that in the
nineteenth century, in practical, Protestant America, Tho-
reau, young, physically robust and highly educated, should
renounce, not only worldly pleasure, but practically the whole
struggle for existence, could not fail to excite especial wonder
and much speculation as to his motives.
‘‘Few lives contain so many renunciations,” writes
Emerson. “He was bred to no profession; he never mar-
ried ; he lived alone ; he never went to church; he never
voted ; he refused to pay a tax to the State ; he ate no flesh ;
he drank no wine ; he never knew the use of tobacco, and,
though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose,
wisely, no doubt, for himself, to be the bachelor of thought
and nature ’ ’ *
Naturally, such a life met with little sympathy from
Thoreau’s fellow-countrymen, who, for the most part, attrib-
uted his course to selfishness, a lack of energy and the desire
to shirk all responsibility as a citizen of the State and a man
among men. His whole life demonstrated, however, that
these accusations were without foundation and that such mo-
tives could play no part in influencing his decision. Yet even
Emerson, his great contemporary and friend, who himself led
a singularly unworldly and free imaginative life, did not see
the full significance of Thoreau’s negation of life, and could
* From the address delivered by R. W. Emerson at Thoreau’s fu-
neral and printed in the “ Atlantic Monthly,” August, 1862. See Preface,
“ Miscellanies.”