Essay about Transcendentalism: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two writers during the transcendentalism era. Their beliefs, such as simplicity, self-reliance, and nature, are still relevant in our society today. Henry David Thoreau was a firm believer that people spend too much time buying luxuries to really enjoy/appreciate anything at all. In the 1800's as well as now, prices continue to rise and people are being forced to work more and more just to make ends meet. This wouldn't be a problem if more people would simplify. A famous quote by Thoreau states "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail...Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary, eat but one; instead of a hundred dishes, five. Ralph Waldo Emerson stretches the importance of nature. When one wants to be alone, one can look at the stars because they inspire a feeling of respect. If more people would focus on the little things in nature, the world would be a happier place. Emerson says "His intercourse with Heaven and Earth becomes a part of his daily food," meaning that when we take the time to focus on nature, we make a connection with God. Henry David Thoreau also believed in self-reliance. For many years, he lived alone in the woods to contemplate life, growing his own food and he even built his own house for a total of $28.12. If more

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