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Thoreau / Emerson help.

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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
I remember reading a book that had Emerson's Nature in it and Thoreau's Walking in it too.  In one of the essays, I'm pretty sure one of them talks about the use of flashlights at night and how they can only see the path in front of them and not everything.

Can anyone identify which essay this was?
Oct 28 2009 11:18PM
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anxju
Posts: 9371 - Karma: 61
transcendentalism sucks in so many ways. but then its decent in others
Oct 28 2009 11:19PM
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lineskier10
Posts: 11339 - Karma: 796
did they even have flashlights in the mid-1800s?
Oct 28 2009 11:20PM
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yellav
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 1,217
oil lamps
Oct 28 2009 11:26PM
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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
It's for a paper, it might have been a lantern.  And I did google.
Oct 28 2009 11:26PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
just read this, pretty sure it was from thoreau in walden; or life in the woods

he was saying men are naturally afraid of the dark even though there's nothing to be scared of. it might be under philanthropy, but i'm not sure

i fucking hate thoreau, what a self absorbed cock smoker
Oct 28 2009 11:31PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
okay here's one from walden by thoreau, he's talking about solitude and visitors that come to walden pond

not exactly what you mentioned, but same idea

"and baited their hooks with darkness,-but they soon retreated, usually with light baskets, and left "the world to darkness and to me," and the black kernel of the night was never profaned by any human neighborhood. I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced"
Oct 28 2009 11:36PM
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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
Idk, maybe I'm thinking of someone different, maybe like Edward Abbey or people like that, but I remember it had to do with not using flashlights or lanterns because it restricts his field of vision.
Oct 28 2009 11:40PM
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Delphi
Posts: 3748 - Karma: 36
Thoreau is fucking awesome. I'm in the middle of "A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers" right now, mostly because I live on the Merrimac river in MA. Guy was brilliant.
Oct 28 2009 11:43PM
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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
/ thread, I found it after some searching Ed Abbey on flashlights.  It was Ed Abby not Thoreau.  Thanks for the help guys (no sarcasm intended)  I read that part of Desert Solitaire at the same time as Thoreau's Walking and in class we discussed them together.

So yeah, let this thread die if you want, or you can talk about transcendentalism and the sort if you feel so inclined.
Oct 28 2009 11:48PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
god i found him to be incredibly preachy, self centered, and dripping with vanity

i think his language is unreal and he's incredibly smart but i think he takes himself way too seriously

i also read walden, which is basically him preaching about what other people should do, so maybe a different one of his works would be better for me
Oct 28 2009 11:48PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
figures, i read emerson and thoreau's views on solitude and darkness and don't remember that
Oct 28 2009 11:50PM
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1337
Posts: 31054 - Karma: 29,232
i spend the second have of my semester studying them. funnnnnnn
Oct 28 2009 11:54PM
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T-Holt
Posts: 5020 - Karma: 639
Yeah, thanks for the help though, your posts were really the reason that I found it, because it forced me to think outside of Thoreau and Emerson.
Oct 28 2009 11:55PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,272
no worries, i love english class haha
Oct 29 2009 12:01AM
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