The Portrayal of Local Woodland Population: Emerson Versus Thoreau

In class Monday, we read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Adirondacs poem. Hearing about a group of intellectuals of the mid-1800’s immersing themselves in nature for inspiration immediately brought to mind Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau lived in isolation on Walden Pond (which coincidentally was owned by his good friend, Emerson) for 2 years 2 months and 2 days during which he wrote the famous book, Walden.

While re-reading a chapter in Walden about Thoreau establishing himself in the forest, I began make comparisons between how Emerson and Thoreau treated the local population. Both were intellectuals of the era – Thoreau was as deeply entrenched with political activism as Emerson was a literary figurehead. Yet, Thoreau was deeply understanding of his fellow farmers while Emerson merely used the Adirondack guides as a resource.

Although Emerson initially comes off as reverent to the Adirondack guides, it is Thoreau who exemplifies true compassion toward local farmers. Why did Emerson not show the same compassion as Thoreau? Emerson simply viewed his trip into the Adirondacks as a vacation. In The Adirondacs, Emerson describes how his group cut down trees only to be ironically “welcomed” by the gods of the forest (150). The guides were personified versions of the vacation, advanced servants to help ensure the party’s safety. Emerson describes the dexterity of the guides in navigating the woods (151-152) yet ultimately says that the company’s visit is the best thing that could happen to the woods (Emerson, 157).

In comparison, Thoreau was living on Walden Lake and learned to respect the struggle of the local population. Thoreau tells the tale of how he bought land from a farmer and set up to plant for the following year only to give the farm back to its original owner at the owner’s wife’s request (Thoreau, 1990). Instead of taking advantage of nature as a vacation and treating the locals as servants, Thoreau lived as a farmer himself and treated the local woodsmen equally.

It fascinated me that two intellectuals with similar backgrounds, similar education, and in the same time period could have such different perspectives on a local population. Ultimately, it boiled down to how the men were living in nature – from the perspective of a vacationer versus the perspective of someone residing in the woods. Ultimately, both found inspiration in nature. However, Thoreau told the story of the local population while Emerson focused on his own travels with slight inclusion of Adirondack guides.

Emerson, Ralph W. The Complete Essays and Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Modern Library, 1940. Print.

Thoreau, Henry D. Walden. Philadelphia, PA: Courage, 1990. Print.