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Thoreau's Quest for Immortality

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Thoreau's Quest for Immortality Lakehead University Knowledge Commons,http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca Electronic Theses and Dissertations Retrospective theses Thoreau's quest for immortality Ohlhoff, Klaus W. http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/2254 Downloaded from Lakehead University, KnowledgeCommons Thoreau's Quest for Iinmortality by- Klaus W. Ohlhoff A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. Department of English. February, 1979. « Copyright (c) Klaus' W. Ohlhoff 1979 272829 ProQuest Number: 10611225 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ProOuest ProQuest 10611225 Published by ProQuest LLC (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition ® ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 Abstract Thoreau's fainous saying, "One vrorld at a tiine," was not the philosophy by which he lived; on the contrary, the central search of his life was for indications in nature that there is an after^ life toward which all men are bound. It was because he was deeply concerned with the fate of his brother's soul that he asserted that mortality is only an appearance, and that man's true nature is immortal. John Thoreau, Jr., had died in Henry's arms in 1842, and the effect this had on him was permanent. Being a Transcendentalist, Thoreau did not go to scripture for consolation regarding death; nevertheless, he wanted the same solace that Christianity offered— the assurance that friends would meet again in paradise. Thus, on the basis of both the Transcendentalist theory of correspondences, and the trust in the validity of personal intuition, he fomu]-ated his own theory of a sensuous hereafter. His search for suggestions that such a realm exists .is strongest in his first book, A Week on the Concord and Tferrimack Rivers, which was intended as a memorial to John, and which I trec'it as a metaphorical account of the soul's journey to its eternal home. The voyage the book describes, its structure, and the themes of its digressions all combine to per- suade the reader that there is another \/^?orld to which the soul goes after death. Al.though the theme of immortality is most perva- sive in A Week, other of Thoreau's writings also show his desire to find proof of, and even experience, eternity. Because he wrote as a prophet who was reminding his fellow man of his spiritual nature and destination, Thoreau*s writings are basically religious. Throughout his life he went to nature not as materialist, but as a supematuralist. He endeavoured, by immersing himself in the eternity already present in this world, to live in a manner befitting an immortal being. His concern with immortality was reinforced by his social ‘and intellectual milieu—-particulary Transcendentalism. In his last days he said, "Yes! this is a beautiful world; but I shall see a fairer." lb My Father, Vlho Has Lost ’L-ro Brothers and to Friend John MacDougall, Who Has Lost One "One short sleep past, we wake eternally. And Death shall be no irore; Death, thou shalt die." —Donne, Holy Sonnet 10 "We ^e dying, we are dying, so all we can do is now to be willing to die, and to build the ship of death to carry the soul on the longest journey.' --D. H. Lawrence, "The Ship of Death" Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Chapter One . 7 Chapter Two 63 Chapter Three 145 Epilogue, . 205 Bibliography. 214 Chronology of Henry Thoreau 1817 Bom July 12 in Concord, Massachusetts. 1833 Entered Harvard. 1837 Spent suinmer vacation with Steams ^^eeler at Flint' Pond. Graduated fro:n Harvard. Briefly taught public school in Concord. Friendship with Emerson began. 1838 Opened his ov\7n school, which lasted until 1841. 1839 His brother John joined Henry in teaching at the school. Voyaged with him on the rivers. 1841 MDved into the Emersons' home, where he stayed two i years. 1842 His brother John and Emerson's eldest child, Waldo, both died in January. 1843 His friend Steams T'Jheeler died. 1845 Moved to Walden Pond on Independence Day. 1847 Left Walden. 1849 A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was pub- lished. Helen Thoreau, Henry's elder sister, died. 1854 Walden was published. 1854-61 I'lany excursions--]'1assachusetts, Maine, Minnesota. 1862 Died May 6, in Concord. Acknowledgements Of the many critics cited throughout this work, I have learned the most from Walter Harding. If the bibliography were arranged acoord;Lng to appreciation, his name wDuld be at the top. Also, I am grateful to Dr. William G. Heath, Jr., my thesis supervisor, for allowing me to write at my own pace. The result- ing "broad margin^ of leisure*^gave me time to do such things as travel to Concord in the summer of 1978. Finally, I thank ray wife Judy, vto first encouraged me to major in literature, did my share of dish washing and diaper changing while I attended graduate school', and put up with me while I brooded over this thesis. Introduction Probably the nost frequently repeated anecdotes concerning Thcreau are those two that show him in his final days. One of the stories is that when his aunt asked him if he had made his peace with God, he answered, "I did not know we had ever quarrelled."^ The other anecdote is that when he was asked .by an acquaintance whether, being so near the brink of death, he had any words on how the other side appeared, Thoreau answered, "One world at a 2 time." These anecdotes, considered alongside Thoreau's usually caustic references to institutional religion and his formal sign- ing off from the church, at first glance suggest a lack of serious concern with spiritual things. More particularly, "One world at a time" seems to indicate that Thoreau never thought about the afterlife. Actually, however, spiritual concerns were at the . 3 very center of Thoreau’s life and writings. Although his religious world view manifests itself throughout his life, and in all of his works, it is most clear in the period following his brother's ^ Vial ter Harding, The Days of Henry Thoreau (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), p. 464. 2 Harding, Days, p. 465. 3 John Sylvester Smith, "The Theological Naturism of Henry David Thoreau with Special Reference to Its Epistemological Presuppositions and Theological Implications," Diss. Drew University, 1948, p. v. 2 death in 1842—particularly in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849). The student vdx» bases his opinion on the anecdotes n^tioned above, and does not look deeper into Thoreau's witings, is left with the same impression as that held by Thoreau's neighbours, who thought of him as the village atheist. As a result, Thoreau's natu- ralism is wrongly interpreted as a philosophy of materialism. Although no longer intended to be disparaging, this view of Thoreau as a materialist is still prevalent today, even among prominent critics. Professor Joel Porte, for example, argues that Thoreau lived only for the reality that links man to this world, that his only concern'was for physical experience. He states that Thoreau . 4 "never felt obliged to turn his thoughts to another world." In opposition to this view, I maintain that the other world was one of Thoreau's chief concerns. This is revealed both by the facts of his life and the themes of his writings. In terms of Thoreau's life, the death of his brother and his reactions to it are most important; in terms of his works, A Week—^which was both his first book and his memorial to his brother John—most consis- tently shows his concern for the other world—the hereafter. Both Thoreau's strong faith in iimortality and the manifes- tation of this faith in his writings have been noted before. Half a century ago, in 1929, Raymond Adams, who later became president 4 Joel Porte, "'God himself culminates in the present moment': Thoughts on Thoreau's Faithr "Thoreau Society Bulletin, No. 144. (Summer 1978), p. 4. 3 of the Thoreau Society, published an article entitled "Ihoreau and Immortality." It is still one of the best introductions to the sub- ject. In it. Mams notes that Thoreau's apparent unconcern about the other world was more a facade he projected than it was real. He asserts, "Thoreau did think of more than one world at a time 5 ...." Yet, as many people do, Thoreau "assumed an unconcern toward g the very things that he most hungered for." Perhaps another reason for his apparent indifference was his belief that religion is 7 'That which is never spoken." Thus he often hid his opinions on matters of faith in his journal and his letters. ^Ajhen the subject of the afterlife does appear in the public writings it is usually treated indirectly—beneath the veil of metaphor for example. Nevertheless, there are some passages—^most of them in A Week— where his quest for immortality is explicitly expressed. Mams concludes his article by stating, "The young Concord radical who renounced the church still thought much about his soul and 0 immortality, and wrote much about it too." Although Mams had the acumen to point out Thoreau' s interest in immortality, he did not assign any reasons as to why Thoreau 5 Raymond Mams, "Thoreau and Immortality," Studies in Philology, 26 (January 1929), 59.
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