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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Studies of Henry David Thoreau as a man of letters have led primarily to an examination of his attitude toward nature, society, government, and religion, and, on the purely literary side, of his style. His theory of the art of poetry has received less emphatic attention, perhaps because Thoreau wrote very little verse, because he failed to embody his theory in any formal discourse, and because it is commonly assumed that in the main his theories coincide with those of Emerson. Nevertheless, Thoreau was deeply interested in the theory of poetry. His utterances concerning it may be found in every volume of his writings and would, if brought together, comprise a noteworthy body of poetic theory.
1 The best aids to a study of the organic theory, especially in its relation to the rise of German romanticism are Oskar Walzel's Gehalt und Gestalt (Berlin, 1923), and German Romanticism, translated into English by A. E. Lussky (New York, 1932); and Reinhold Schwinger and Heinz Nicolai's Innere Form und dichterische Phantasie (München, 1935).
2 The extent to which Thoreau was directly influenced by German organic theorists of the eighteenth century is a matter of question. Mr. P. E. More believes that in its “superficial aspects the whole body of German romanticism may be found reflected” in Thoreau's works; Shelburne Essays, 5th Series (New York, 1908), pp. 117–118. Mr. Raymond Adams, however, denies any notable, direct influence. See his Henry Thoreau's Literary Theory and Criticism, unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina (1928), pp. 105 ff.
3 “Metaphysics,” his friend William Ellery Channing reported, “was his aversion …” Thoreau The Poet-Naturalist (Boston, 1902), pp. 50–51.
4 For a discussion of the organic theory in Emerson see Norman Foerster's American Criticism (New York, 1928).
5 Henry David Thoreau's Writings, Walden Edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1906), i, 94.
6 Ibid., ix, 191.
7 Ibid., i, 94.
8 Ibid., i, 364.
9 Ibid., ix, 231.
10 Ibid., i, 350.
11 Idem., ix, 236. See also his poem “Inspiration,” v, 396.
12 The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston, 1909), p. 17.
13 Writings, viii, 471.
14 Ibid., viii, 290.
15 Ibid., vii, 73.
16 Ibid., ix, 107, 293; viii, 291, 341.
17 Ibid., ii, 113.
18 Ibid., ix, 236; xix, 238–239.
19 Ibid., ix, 236.
20 Ibid., i, 348.
21 Ibid., i, 351.
22 “The poet,” he once said, “must not have something pass his bowels merely; that is woman's poetry. He must have something pass his brain and heart and bowels, too, it may be, altogether.” Ibid., ix, 165.
23 Ibid., vii, 119.
24 Ibid., i, 400–401.
25 Ibid., i, 364.
26 Ibid., vii, 153.
27 Ibid., i, 401.
28 Ibid., i, 350; xii, 74.
29 For a clear statement of the distinction between mechanic and organic form see W. G. T. Shedd, The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (New York, 1871), iv, 55.
30 Friederich W. Schelling, “Über das Verhältniss der bildenden Kunst zu der Natur,” Sämtliche Werke (Stuttgart, 1860), Erster Abteilung, Siebenter Band, SS. 291–329. This work was translated into English by J. Elliot Cabot of Harvard University and published in F. H. Hedge's Prose Writers of Germany (Carey and Hart, 1847). That Thoreau had read Hedge's book, particularly the selection from Schelling, has not been ascertained. His personal acquaintance with Cabot and his interest in the subject of Schelling's article make it appear probable, however, that he had at least some knowledge of Schelling's discussion.
31 Ibid., SS. 300 ff.
32 Sämtliche Werke, Yubiläumsausgabe (Weimar, 1887), xxxiii, 42.
33 Ibid., xxxvi, 115 ff.
34 John Peter Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe (Leipzig, 1885), iii, 242–244.
35 Writings, x, 154; xvi, 188.
36 Ibid., i, 72; ii, 116.
37 Ibid., i, 149, 93–94.
38 Ibid., i, 350.
39 “Conjectures on Original Composition,” in The Great Critics, Edited by J. H. Smith and E. W. Parks (New York, 1932), p. 358.
40 Floyd Stovall's Walt Whitman, Representative Selections (New York, 1934), pp. xxiv xxv.
41 Writings, iv, 338.
42 Idem.
43 Raymond Adams, op. cit., p. 106.
44 Writings, ix, 165.
45 Ibid., vii, 119.
46 Raymond Adams, op. cit., pp. 79–80.
47 Writings, ix, 157; vii, 204. Thoreau said elsewhere (xv, 121) that the theme is nothing, but the life everything. His many references to the importance of truth in the writing of great poetry, however, leave little doubt that his interest lay primarily in substance rather than in mere expression.
48 Ibid., ix, 86.
49 Ibid., ix, 155–156; xvi, 164–175; xviii, 23, 171.
50 Ibid., xix, 154.
51 Ibid., xrv, 245; i, 162; xii, 4.
52 Ibid., vii, 157.
53 Ibid., i, 98.
54 Ibid., ix, 85, 381. It was the mythologic and universal qualities that pleased Thoreau when contemplating the poetry of ancient Greece.
55 Ibid., ix, 278–279; xvi, 206.
56 Ibid., vii, 275.
57 Ibid., xix, 125; xviii, 372.
58 Ibid., ii, 52. See also pp. 44, 51, and in ix, 181–182.
59 See, however, ibid., vii, 181.
60 Ibid., vii, 51.
61 Ibid., vii, 266.
62 Ibid., ii, 115. In this respect Thoreau differed from Emerson, for whose comment on translation see The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Boston, 1909), vii, 195.
63 For a penetrating discussion of Herder's conception of literature as a “national plant” see R. R. Ergang's Herder and the Foundations of German Nationalism (Columbia Univ. Press, 1931).
64 See section 9, “By Blue Ontario's Shore.”
65 W. Rhys Roberts, Longinus On the Sublime (Cambridge University Press, 1907) Chapter 9, p. 61. See also Strabo, Geography, Tr. by H. C. Hamilton and F. Falconer (London, 1854), i, 27; Plotinus, K. S. Guthries' translation (London, 1918), i, 54; J. E. Spingarn, Literary Criticism in the Renaissance, esp. p. 271. Oskar Walzel, in Gehalt und Gestalt (Berlin, 1925), has sought to trace the idea from Shaftesbury to Goethe and Herder.
66 Elegy vi, The Works of John Milton, Frank Allen Patterson, General Editor (New York, 1931), iii, Part i, 303–304.
67 Writings, x, 433.
68 Ibid., ii, 245.
69 Ibid., ix, 182; x, 126; xii, 59; xvii, 286. Thoreau's interest in English Renaissance authors has been shown by Norman Foerster, “The Intellectual Heritage of Thoreau,” The Texas Review, ii, No. 3, 192–212; and by H. S. Canby, Classic Americans (New York, 1931), pp. 185–186.
70 Writings, vii, 25.
71 Ibid., i, 407.
72 It is known, however, that he regarded writing as his profession. See xv, 121; Channing, op. cit., pp. 49, 83.
73 Writings, viii, 441.
74 Ibid., viii, 442.
75 Ibid., viii, 160.
76 Ibid., xix, 70.
77 Ibid., i, 101, 106, 93.
78 Ibid., XII, 394; xvii, 457.
79 Ibid., vii, 354.
80 Ibid., ii, 4.
81 Ibid., vii, 275.
82 Ibid., i, 329.
83 Ibid., vii, 157.
84 Ibid., vii, 167.
85 Ibid., xvi, 131.
86 Ibid., vii, 268–270, 325; xvi, 46.
87 Ibid., iv, 316–355.
88 Ibid., iv, 350.
89 Ibid., iv, 329.
90 Ibid., iv, 330.
91 Ibid., iv, 330–331, 323, 325.
92 Ibid., iv, 338.
93 Ibid., iv, 331–332.
94 Ibid., iv, 338.
95 Ibid., iv, 339.
96 Ibid., iv, 332, 338.
97 Ibid., iv, 340.
98 Ibid., iv, 340 ff.
99 Ibid., iv, 349.