5. Original Response

“Thanatopsis” Response

This poem was excellently written. It was intriguing to go through each line of the poem and decipher what is meant to be said. It’s like a creative puzzle. The overall message of this poem is that when we die we will become one with the Earth. “The all-beholding sun shall see no more in all his course…” .This idea goes along with the transcendentalist way of living. This idea of what happens after we die will clash with many religions. It’s commonly accepted in society that when people die they will either ascend or descend into lands unknown. Not stay on Earth. Since Transcendentalist isn’t popular these days its ideas aren’t popular either. Lots of parts of the transcendentalist sound good but there is no back up or “evidence” to show that you should follow them. It’s a thing where people just have to trust and do. It needs an incentive like an item of significance, a written text, or an idol. These set a bit of structure. That’s what people look for when they find a religion. It brings them order in their life when everything else is hectic. So the ideas in the Thanatopsis can be heavily followed but there needs to be some set structures.   


“First Curl of Smoke” Response

This article has an enlightening message to it. It’s almost like an indirect persuasive essay. It says that the man in the story is using nature as a get-away from his horrible working life in the city. “I guess you could say I fell in love at first sight.” This line is mentioning the first time he sat in the wilderness. The simplicity of nature overpowers the stressful city life. I want to try this out myself because I’m living a prime example of a stressful city life. I wake up early every morning to get to school. I have work to do there then work to do at home. I have two extracurricular activities as well take up time in the morning and in the afternoon. Once I finally get home I do my homework then sleep because I’m so tired. This type of lifestyle can have you going through life without breathing and knowing that you are alive. This is what the writer is saying. Sitting in the wilderness helps you relax and get rid of all your worldly issues and responsibilities. Looking at the world in its natural form helps you look back on yourself. This idea holds true today. People go camping for the exact reasons. Sometimes people with high blood pressure are encouraged to do it because the simplicity of the wild is relaxing. (215 words)

“Walden” Response  

I felt that this reading didn’t have a pushing message. It tells of one man’s experience about leaving society and living in nature. He does discover lessons through his experiences that you can learn from but they aren’t directed toward the reader as other pieces are. It’s highly similar to “First Curl of Smoke” because both people leave their normal lives and go into the wilderness.  The difference about this piece is that the writer plans on staying in nature while the person in “First Curl of Smoke” is visiting.  This one pushes to the “extremes” more because he desserts all life for the solitude. That aspect makes it hard to be relatable in this day and age. So many people are attached to the aspects of their society driven lives. So breaking away from it all would be difficult to do for some. In “First Curl of Smoke” the time in spent in nature is only temporary because he’s on vacation from work. It’s something similar to going camping. “…I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”  He finds that living in complete solid without any worries is the best way to experience life. This makes a good point because going on a vacation means you have to go back to your normal life, which leaves worry.  (216 words)

“Nature” Response”

This piece lists the specifics of the benefits of living in nature. Everything is in a positive light so it’s almost as if it’s biased. There are no negatives of living in nature. “Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece.”  It has a wide range of coverage because of its simplicity. To further explain that, nature is like a plain hamburger. Any condiments (situations) would go on it. “There I feel that nothing can befall me in life.” In this quote the writer is saying that no bad can happen to him while he is in nature because there are nothing but good feelings circulating through him. In a way he is right but there are all of the physical dangers that can befall him. He might consider those possibilities as good things as well because its nature’s will. These ideas hold true today because whoever takes a trip in barren nature has a reason. Since there are many people with just as many reasons the possibilities are endless. (198 words)

Self-Reliance Response

This piece dictates exactly what the title says: Self-Reliance. It’s saying to find yourself through the simplicity of nature. I find that this is to be something true. “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.” I agree with this statement because society has a permanent structure that can’t be deferred from. You must grow a certain way and go through life in a “pattern” in order to be successful. It’s set up to fail man because if you don’t meet the requirements, you fail. As a man you feel the need to be successful in life through the “system”. When that goal is unachievable, the failure does affect the pride of your manhood. The text says “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus…” its saying that some of the great people in life had to step outside of the narrow minded style of society just so that they could prosper. These ideas hold true today. During a time when people take part in trends and “norms” just so that they can fit in, more often than not people step outside. Sometimes stepping away from society is a form of rebellion but in some cases it has a greater plan. Similar to many of the separations and growth in history like the Pilgrims leaving England and the Americans breaking away from Britain.