Henry David Thoreau and the Counterculture - 1357 Words

Transcendentalism is a literary and philosophical movement, associated with Henry David Thoreau and the Counterculture, asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. Imagination and individuality are associated with the term. Henry David Thoreau who was a leading philosopher and poet was a leading transcendentalist. He compiled a novel titled Walden, a non-fiction depicting his stay at Walden Pond where he truly explored nature and his transcendental quality. Similar to Thoreau, the Counterculture was a non-conformist group, during the 1960’s and 1970’s who went against societys norms and became their own sub-culture. They too were highly considered†¦show more content†¦Lennon’s â€Å"Imagine† circled around the topic of imagination, and how it could take you anywhere, much like Thoreau’s belief of imagination. Lennon was influenced by nineteenth century transcendentalists philisophospher Henry David Thoreau (Henry David Thoreau). John Lennon was part of the counterculture and imagined the world to be peaceful within the future, where people lived their dreams. Henry David Thoreau and the counterculture shared the love of use of the imagination and brought forth their ideas whether or not they fit into societies standards. They went against the grain of wood, and did not mind one bit of society’s opinion of them. Henry David Thoreau and the counterculture are also different in a few aspects. Thoreau loved to be alone. He exclaimed, â€Å"I love to be alone. I never found the companion and companionable as solitude. We are for the most part, more lonely when we go abroad amongst men then when we stay in our chambers† (Companionable as Solitude). Thoreau enjoyed being alone and felt as if he was truly being himself, when around others he believed that you had to try to fit in with the social settings. He was individualistic in most things he did. On the other hand, the counterculture liked to travel in groupies. The counterculture savored time spent with other non-conformists and enjoyed the company of those around them. They stayed in homes with fifteenShow MoreRelatedThe Crying Of Lot 49 By Thomas Pynchon1174 Words   |  5 Pagesagainst an oppressive regime or in protest of immoral actions. Some prominent cases were the American Revolution, French Revolution, Transcendentalistsâ €™ civil disobedience, 1960’s counterculture movement, and the Civil Rights movement. Thomas Pynchon’s postmodernist novella, The Crying of Lot 49, set in the 1960 s counterculture era of hippies (rejecting mainstream American Society), captures the essence of rebelling against institutions. 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