Throreau

Henry David Thoreau

     After Thoreau moved into Emerson's home, he quickly became a student of Emerson. Soon after that, both, Thoreau and Emerson pursued careers in transcendental philosophy. Emerson was often one to lecture about transcendentalism, while Thoreau practiced it. In Emerson's "Nature," he wrote, "In the woods, we return to reason and faith." Thoreau took this very literally and even though Emerson wrote it, Thoreau took action of it. Emerson believed in living in harmony with nature. While, Thoreau believed in living harmony within ourselves. 
 

     Thoreau truly tested Transcendentalism by taking it to the extremes. Thoreau simplified life. He kept going "back to nature" to test experiences of transcendentalism. He focused on how he could live in peace with himself within nature.  An example of this is, "I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and to reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion" (Thoreau 204).
     If you were to turn to any page from Thoreau's "Walden," you would find a man saying anything that is on his mind; this is an excellent example of how Thoreau practiced what was preached to him.
     Emerson had taught Thoreau to live life simply. Emerson had lived simply and in clear perception. An example that expresses Thoreau practicing what Emerson preached to him is, "Our life is frittered away by detail" (Thoreau 204). This is saying how we spend too much time of our lives worry about every single detail, when really we need to live life more simply. We must simplify life.