Where I Lived And What Live For
In the essay “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” Henry Thoreau describes his philosophy of life and importance of the ideal place for every thinker. The essay states that many people are too busy and arrogant to understand and perceive beauty of nature and the world around them. Nature and household is one of the most important elements of our live which can express deep feeling and emotions of every person. Thoreau argues that people, rich and poor, preach the sounding doctrine that the environment as a primary influence on the developing character (Warburton 21). They identify places with physical beauty and places with souls, thus they use the idea of nature differently creating Thoreau uses landscape to express fascination and attraction of the imaginable and rural settings. different meanings and interpretations of images and symbols borrowed from nature.
Description of Walden Pond reflects the purpose of life and perception of reality by Thoreau. He is a real romantic who relies so heavily on sight and makes an emotional connection to the landscape. A philosophical subject is seen in its own rights when it deals with human feelings and intimate relations and love. Thoreau turns imagination onto the world to mediate and modify nature used as background and the main method to portray inner feelings and thoughts of other people (Earle 87). Thoreau contemplates nature, both the natural world around him and his own inner nature. Thoreau traces a movement of taste away from admiration of ordered, cultivated nature towards the worship of wild, untamed, mountainous nature. Thoreau’s wild spirit which resides in the landscapes are expressed by the household upon the polite world of nature. Readers are withdrawn into the folds of an impersonal power which does not care for human attachment and love. Using images nature and countryside, Thoreau connects poeple to economic deeds and courage. Thoreau criticizes feelings and emotions of townspeople obsessed with personal problems and financial gains. Thoreau sees and depicts life at a distance observing its beauty and charm.