Nature and Walking

by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

This literature anthology volume contains Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature and Henry David Thoreau's Walking. The two respective essays are the two most important essays in the environmental movement. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid 19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays & correspondence and more than 1,500 public lectures and speeches across the United States. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays & correspondence and speeches encompasses a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability of humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures and speeches first, then revised them for print. In Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Nature, Emerson puts forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Within the essay, Emerson divides nature into four usages; Commodity, Beauty, Language, and Discipline. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, those four distinctions define the ways by which humans use nature for their basic needs. Emerson followed the success of his Nature essay with a speech called The American Scholar, which together with his previous lectures laid the foundation for transcendentalism and his literary career. Walking by Henry David Thoreau is an essay that was published posthumously in 1862. Walking is considered to be one of Henry David Thoreau's seminal works, so much so that he once wrote of the lecture, "I regard this as a sort of introduction to all that I may write hereafter." While Henry David Thoreau was considered a transcendentalist, his work of writings encompasses social sciences, political science, civil rights, and humanities. Nature and Walking are both often required textbook reading and the two influential essays are conveniently combined in this one volume.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Nature, Classics, Poetry, Essays, Environment

82 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. Educated at Harvard and the Cambridge Divinity School, he became a Unitarian minister in 1826 at the Second Church Unitarian. The congregation, with Christian overtones, issued communion, something Emerson refused to do. "Really, it is beyond my comprehension," Emerson once said, when asked by a seminary professor whether he believed in God. (Quoted in 2,000 Years of Freethought edited by Jim Haught.) By 1832, after the untimely death of his first wife, Emerson cut loose from Unitarianism. During a year-long trip to Europe, Emerson became acquainted with such intelligentsia as British writer Thomas Carlyle, and poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. He returned to the United States in 1833, to a life as poet, writer and lecturer. Emerson inspired Transcendentalism, although never adopting the label himself. He rejected traditional ideas of deity in favor of an "Over-Soul" or "Form of Good," ideas which were considered highly heretical. His books include Nature (1836), The American Scholar (1837), Divinity School Address (1838), Essays, 2 vol. (1841, 1844), Nature, Addresses and Lectures (1849), and three volumes of poetry. Margaret Fuller became one of his "disciples," as did Henry David Thoreau.

The best of Emerson's rather wordy writing survives as epigrams, such as the famous: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Other one- (and two-) liners include: "As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect" (Self-Reliance, 1841). "The most tedious of all discourses are on the subject of the Supreme Being" (Journal, 1836). "The word miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is a monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain" (Address to Harvard Divinity College, July 15, 1838). He demolished the right wing hypocrites of his era in his essay "Worship": ". . . the louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons" (Conduct of Life, 1860). "I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship" (Self-Reliance). "The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature" (English Traits , 1856). "The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." (Civilization, 1862). He influenced generations of Americans, from his friend Henry David Thoreau to John Dewey, and in Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche, who takes up such Emersonian themes as power, fate, the uses of poetry and history, and the critique of Christianity. D. 1882.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was his son and Waldo Emerson Forbes, his grandson.

Reviews

[Jacqueline Masumian · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a lover of both nature and walking, I was expecting to enjoy this book. But, apart from a few stunning images in the Thoreau essay, I didn't.

[stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed "Walking" more than I did "Nature."

[Tracy Towley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know why I keep trying with Emerson. He's extremely not for me.

[Brian Hegarty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll have to read it again because I missed so much in its density. These guys are professional yappers, and I love the part where Thoreau talks about why America is the best place on earth for 10 pages:
“If the moon looks larger here than in Europe, probably the sun looks larger also. If the heavens of America appear infinitely higher, and the stars brighter, I trust that these facts are symbolical of the height to which the philosophy and poetry and religion of her inhabitants may one day soar” HDT

[Ludmila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emerson is just Plato repackaged.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sort of feel that both Emerson and Thoreau are starting to sound a little overly dated, and not in a good way... more in the "we're supporting the domination of nature and non-Europeans but are so focused on our own spiritual development that we don't realize it."

Nonetheless, they're both great essayists, and this particular volume has some really wonderful wood prints that illustrate the two pieces.

[Nathan B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will have to read again with extra annotations. Nature is thick

[Nathan Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my 2019 writing challenge and in preparation for the Pacific Crest Trail in 2020, I am spending the entire year reading and writing about books focused on a journey. For my first book, I dove into “Nature/Walking” by Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau.

Our Relationship to Nature

As a child, one of my favorite books was “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. It painted a dire picture of our relationship to nature and leaves the reader grasping for a more symbiotic relationship between man and trees. Instead, we far too often find ourselves in a one-sided transactional relationship with nature where we take and take without much thought to what can be given in return. Nature doesn’t need us, but I think it longs for us to commune with it. We should find ourselves lost in its leaves, consuming its vistas, cooled by its waters, and hiking its trails. As we do, we give ourselves a gift and leave with a big brother mentality.

These Things Are Worth Protecting

This big brother mentality means nature is worth protecting. It is worth our time, talent, and money to set aside vast swaths of land for the sheer purpose of recreation. For all of America’s faults, one of the things that makes me proudest is our National Parks System. As a collective community, we’ve decided our most inspiring lands are worth saving from profit, greed, and those who see nothing but a means to an end. We’ve done this because we know what these places can do. They can heal, inspire, and baptize people returning them home happy and healthy.

The Joy of Walking

I have never shied away from walking. Down the street, across town, or through the woods, I love it all and cannot imagine my life without. Walking among the trees through switchbacks on warm mountain mornings may be my most favorite. The stresses of my life melt away like butter. I feel carefree and a childlike nature is allowed to roam free. No matter the level of difficulty, I am able to look back with a sense of accomplishment and wonder. Without a doubt, there isn’t a lot of places on this Earth I would rather be than on a trail.

Poetry in the Trees

On those walks and among those trees, I see and hear poetry in motion. Before me is the living embodiment of everything I hold dear and holy in the natural world. As the sun shines through clouds and snowcapped mountain ranges are revealed, I am given the greatest manifestation of “God” that I will ever get to experience. My soul experiences Zen-like peace next to hidden lakes and my troubles are drowned in creek crossings. Everything that is good and decent about me is revealed on distant trails. That is why I long to go there and would give almost anything to be there now.

Be good to each other,

-Nathan

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my Nature Writing class. When either Ralph Waldo or Henry David actually describe nature, they both write beautiful descriptions. And I can't deny their talents for observation.

As a modern, Pagan reader, though, it's hard to get over the (Ralph Waldo's especially) Transcendentalist view that nature is a means to spiritual enlightenment. Not to mention all the talk about how nature bends to "man's dominion as meekly as the ass on which the Savior rode", which of course is the kind of thinking that's gotten us global warming and all the other countless environmental problems we have today.

This book, though, is a great sampling of the two authors, and is nicely produced. It's important to read both of these writers if you're interested in nature writing, and I think this is a good place to start if you don't want to invest in all of Walden or can't stomach much more of Ralph Waldo (which I can't).

[Julie Shuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting (if rambling) thought experiment. Parts of it were horribly outdated but what was more surprising to me were the parts that read as recent/period transcendent

[chacierrr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfectly little tied edition of American literature. Read this in the forest of Oregon, where the American Nature still does persist on in some true form spoken about here, most especially by Thoreau, although both works are very good and to my liking.

Thoreau is a little shortsighted at times and shrouded in idealism, but I can understand. Emerson carries to much pretensions at time, but I can also understand.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read these two essays back in February, while we were vacationing at a very snowed-in cabin in Ponca State Park. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, I decided that I would reread them before considering the matter closed, which I did over the past couple of weeks. While second readings might make for improved comprehension, they rarely make for improved appraisals. Truer words were never spoken.

That Emerson’s Nature, as dry a philosophical exercise as they come, was seen as inspirational to a generation of naturalists like John Muir is astonishing. Either sensibilities and/or expectations in this regard were unrecognizably different 188 years ago, or the canon of nature writing was so slim that any example was worth holding aloft. Finding inspiration in nature in Nature is like someone explaining the beauty of a classic car by providing a list of parts and the instructions for its assembly. Alas, I don’t think Aristotle’s sum-parts memo made it to Emerson, who clinically dissected nature to bits on the way to understanding but killed the poor beast in the process.

Thoreau’s Walking started with a bang, though, and I had high hopes (despite finding Walden a disappointment eight years ago): “I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness …” Yes, please! Ostensibly about walking, or sauntering, as Thoreau prefers, Walking is no more focused than an unplanned ramble: it meanders this way and that according to its whims, following its muse where it might, with all the digressions, tangents, and apropos nothings you might imagine, each thought connected by a thread, however fine, to the one preceding. As you might imagine with a piece that often feels like an unfiltered and unedited stream of consciousness, the exuberance doesn’t last, and Walking plods along, sometimes peaking, sometimes valleying, and sometimes in misguided ways, before eventually circling back to the point (walking) and closing in its final paragraphs nearly as well as it began.

There certainly are fine lines throughout from both Emerson and Thoreau, Instagrammable quotables to pair with that perfect photo. For my money, the chaff-to-wheat ratio was too high, and though I didn’t much care for these pieces, I am grateful for each’s impact on the naturalists who followed.

[Thor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice introduction by John Elder, followed by Thoreau's "Walking," a work with a complex history, published posthumously in 1862, but given as a "read" lecture many times in various forms in the prior decade. It contains some of the most quotable material, and one of the finest opening paragraphs I've read: "I wish to speak a word for Nature...."

[Ruth Harper-Rhode · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Nature. I found Walking kind of boring… but at least quick. Nature had more quotable lines.

Nature:
“Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit.”
“In the woods, is perpetual youth.”
“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again.”
“A leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Each particle is a microcosm, and faithfully renders the likeness of the world.”
“I expand and live in the warm day like corn and melons.”
“The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”

Walking
“What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?”
“I believe in the forest, and the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows.”
“The partridge loves peas, but not those that go with her into the pot. In short, all good things are wild and free.”

[Chasen Stern · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not find my way into either of these essays. I don’t know if they are as dated and impenetrable as they seemed or if I just wasn’t giving them enough of a concerted effort, but pieces this short on subjects as broad and appealing as nature and walking feel like they should have sparked pleasure responses or at least piqued my interest, which they practically never did.

When all was said and done, I preferred Thoreau’s “Walking" over Emerson's "Nature." I also have a copy of Walden collecting dust somewhere. Maybe a longer work would click more? Or maybe these guys are just not for me?

[James]

Nature and Walking, written by legendary authors Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau, is widely considered to be two of the greatest classic texts of all time. These two great classics will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Nature and Walking are required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, these gems by Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau are highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Nature and Walking would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library.

[Varvara Bondarenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two quite different pieces about nature.
I was quite surprised by some of Thoreau's ideas, e.g. "I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west" or "Leaving the highlands of Asia, he descends from station to station towards Europe. Each of his steps is marked by a new civilization superior to the preceding, by a greater power of development". Quite America-centrist view, which is completely understandable and reasonable for that period of time, yet, in a way still a bit surprising.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emerson and Thoreau should not be missed by anyone who is a fan of nature writing. While definitely products of their times, their observations about nature are still relevant today. Emerson is more philosophical and Thoreau more down to earth. I have to admit that I enjoy Thoreau's writing more than Emerson's, but Emerson's "transparent eyeball" is certainly a metaphor not easily forgotten. If I had a choice, I would choose to take a walk with Thoreau rather than have a discussion with Emerson.

[Karalee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Thoreau's essay a lot more then Emerson's essay. Honestly, most of what Emerson said went right over my head so maybe if I reread it in a few years I will discover that it was actually very profound (But lets be honest, I'm never going to reread this). I found Thoreau's essay to be much more readable and moderately interesting. I felt that he took himself much less seriously than Emerson.

[sam boucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two essays, "Nature" by Emerson, and "Walking" by Thoreau, are essential reads!! If you have even the slightest bit of interest in the environment, mindfulness, or good literature, pick this one up. At times, it was a bit slow moving and mundane to read, however, the difficulty was totally worth it in the end.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I prefer Sigurd Olson, but it was good to read from his (and many others) inspiration… I just wasn’t carried along as far in either Emerson or Thoreau. Perhaps it’s the age and mild difficulty in understanding at times, or the side paths into “greater truth” that at times look silly and go on for much longer than I had patience for. Still, I enjoyed it and unearthed some nuggets.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nothing divine dies. All good is eternally reproductive. The beauty of nature reforms itself in the mind, and not for barren contemplation, but for new creation."
Pg20

"My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant."
pg113

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book I could not put it down!
This book helps understand nature deeply from language & energy. These men really loved nature.
It is a beautifully written book and I look forward to rereading it again and again.

[Blake Roche · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst two essays I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. Common sense drivel and boring boring boring boring boring. Yikes. The only positive is that they were fairly short and didn’t deprive me of TOO much of my life.

[Michael Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

R.W. Emerson sounds like the kid in high school tried way too hard to sound intelligent. I’m not sure what his thought process was, but his execution of that thought was equally indiscernible.

Thoreau though was a tour de force and saved this book from being tossed into the dumpster.

[Ted Manahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Strange pronouncements and unsupportable claims. Hard to follow.
Henry David Thoreau: Get out of doors and pay attention.

[Sarah Anderle]

(Just Nature)

[Fig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3 stars is for Henry

[Vinny (Local_Bibliophile) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐

[Lauren Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

nature : 3.5
walking : 2.3