How Emerson and Thoreau Interpreted Nature - Essay Example

Nature When people grow up they usually lose real childish love to nature and start taking it for granted. Nature remains one of the greatest sources of inspiration for many outstanding people. Emerson interpreted nature in a different way than most people do, he decided to explain what functions can nature perform. He thought that everything that is not a person himself is nature: air, water, ground, trees, and stones. When a man starts doing something with nature it becomes art that is how houses, pictures, and cars appear. Even human body for Emerson was nature, and only human Soul does not belong to nature. Nature is first of all a source of truth and the answer to all eternal questions. Emerson did not understand why people referred to the past experience, and the history instead of referring to nature. Because all people are made in exactly the same way as other objects in the world, a man can solve all the mysteries himself, only looking closely to his own creation and the nature around him. The task of science in this world is providing of a theoretical basis for studying nature, and then a man will be able to understand the sense of life. However, Emerson also differentiated between four main categories which characterize nature. It can be regarded as commodity, beauty, language, and discipline depending on its functions. Commodity is the most obvious category because nature provides a man with everything he needs. Sun light, ocean water, plants that grow with the help of sun light and ocean water, animals that eat these plants- all these natural things feed a man. The world of nature never changes and it also changes constantly, and this is its biggest mystery. Second, nature is simply the beauty that brings joy to a spectator. Emerson explained that forms and plasticity of nature are the things that enchant any man in any time of his life. “We are never tired as long as we can see far enough” (Emerson 13). Finally nature can a give a man pure pleasure without corporeal benefits by its loveliness. Nature also impresses a man by its divinity and virtue. Nature is neither good nor bad, it is endless and it has the power to renovate itself. Every natural object is beautiful because it demonstrates universal love. Erikson also says that nature is the vehicle of thought because it is nature that gave the man opportunity to create language. Words are used to describe natural facts and spiritual phenomena, and so most words that now can be applied to abstract concepts, such as feelings, once signified real objects. Moreover, natural phenomena are never ending sources of inspiration for a wise and observant man. Proverbs, parables were created mostly in such a way. Emerson also suggests that nature is a discipline which means that nature provides a man with an infinite material to study: space, time, mechanics, and biological structures. But nature also teaches a man some more important things like patience, perseverance, stability, and firmness. So all the people that contact with nature receive daily lessons from it. Henry Thoreau tried to understand nature in more practical way. To write his book “Walden” Thoreau went to live a country house for two years. He wanted to try whether it is possible to lead self-sufficient life in wild nature and what lessons such living could teach him. However, he had companions in his solitude because he was living in the house of the Emersons and his mother helped him with products. But Thoreau made accent on the rough, wild nature which is not influenced by a man, that was a real nature for him. Thoreau viewed it as the opposition to civilization with its technical and social inventions. He thought that it in “wilderness was the preservation of the world” (Thoreau 17). Thoreau was passionate about nature, he aimed to find God in his wild environment, in the hidden paths of the wood or under the cliffs on the sea shore. Every walk in solitude made the writer more spiritual because he saw that eternity of the river flow and when he climbed a mountain he regarded it as getting closer to God. He thought that divine power was presented in every flower and in every tree and so heaven can be achieved just immediately because heaven is all around. Thoreau also underlined that perception of nature is probably best in solitude since in his book he wrote: “I have a room all to myself; it is a nature” (Thoreau 34). Thoreau also thought that nature can serve as a source of moral and intellectual development. He thought that observing natural phenomena was a necessary condition for keeping healthy life both from physical and psychological sides. Thoreau thought that keeping close contact to nature is a necessity for people that is why every town ad every village should have a park. Of course nature was a great source of scientific material for Thoreau because he spent hours wondering around woods and picking different kinds of leaves and flowers. Reading naturalistic books was the author`s favorite entertainment in winter. Thoreau perceived nature as an eternal teacher because he thought that it is impossible to understand all its forms, laws, and wonders. Thoreau and Emerson were close friends that is why they mostly shared their views on nature. They both viewed it as an essential part of human development. They both wanted to see how society changed with a help of nature, how nature inspired people to create inventions and discover important laws of life. It made human`s mind think and gave it a great number of ideas. Nature for both Emerson and Thoreau was also en epitome of divine and eternal. Every plant, animal, every place was a whole Universe. Emerson claimed that a man could find answers on all his philosophical questions with the help of nature and Thoreau thought that nature was the way to sense divine in life. It is here where each of them made accent on some special attribute of nature. Emerson did not place God in the center of his search; he wanted everyone to understand the intercourse between nature and spirit. He viewed nature as all material things that were not human spirit, he thought that this combination of nature and spirit is divine. Moreover, he thought that appreciation of the world and its delight can make a human a creator himself – that is when art appears. For Thoreau nature had religious sense first of all. It was a way to look for divine presence and to open divine source in him as well. And Thoreau thought that solitude was the way to understand spirituality. Emerson was more theoretical, he decided to explain how exactly nature changes a person and how it serves people through centuries. He examined every possible lesson and every possible gift that nature could present to a man. Thoreau was more practical in his search- he wanted to feel everything and experience his living in wild conditions himself. I agree with both writers in their appreciation of nature. It is impossible not to see nature as a great source of inspiration and as pure religion. Nature is a teacher and the way to find peace and sense of life because exploring nature is exploring the life itself. Emerson explained nature in more detailed way and his opinion is closer to me because he connected nature to art ad to science, his view is more reasonable and complex. While Thoreau`s views seem to be more metaphorical and extreme. I do not think that it is necessary to go and live in the forest to appreciate and to be in contact with nature as it is all around and inside us. Works Cited Emerson, R. Nature. London: Independent Publishing Platform. 2010. Thoreau, H. Walden. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2004 Read More