Modern Day Walden

I found this article in the NYT magazine on my driveway this morning. I posted the link - it seemes like these people are a true example of living deliberately, and they are forced to face the realities of life. Thought it was really pertinent to class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Squatters-t.html?ref=magazine
So do you guys think these guys are truly modern-day romatics? How closely do they adhere to Thoreau's ideas/the values of Romanticism?
-emily

Was the Transcendentalist Movement a Failure?

Over the last two classes, we've been discussing whether the transcendentalist movement was just one big glorious failure. I think we all came to a general consensus that the movement's lofty idealism is what made it unsuccessful. However, does this mean that transcendentalism has failed to make an impact on society?
The movement at its most extreme certainly seems to be highly unrealistic. By just looking at Thoreau's Walden experiment, we see that pure individualism and independence are unobtainable (apparently, Thoreau's mother brought him food and did his laundry over the course of his stay at Walden Pond). Furthermore, Thoreau himself admitted that his attempt at being self-sufficient was a failure. However, does this mean that transcendentalism can be rejected as a valid philosophy? Or does the movement still have merits despite its huge flaws?

-Bryce C.

Thoughts?

This is that poem that I was failing to quote today in class. Jeffers and Thoreau are definitely not on the same page. Thoreau suggests that civil disobedience is the best, if not the only, way to bring about change. Jeffers supports violence as an agent of change. Who do you guys agree with?

The Bloody Sire

POEM VIEWS: 13350

Although closely associated with the California coast, Jeffers was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spent much of his boyhood at boarding

. . . MORE »

BY ROBINSON JEFFERS

It is not bad. Let them play.

Let the guns bark and the bombing-plane

Speak his prodigious blasphemies.

It is not bad, it is high time,

Stark violence is still the sire of all the world’s values.

What but the wolf’s tooth whittled so fine

The fleet limbs of the antelope?

What but fear winged the birds, and hunger

Jewelled with such eyes the great goshawk’s head?

Violence has been the sire of all the world’s values.

Who would remember Helen’s face

Lacking the terrible halo of spears?

Who formed Christ but Herod and Caesar,

The cruel and bloody victories of Caesar?

Violence, the bloody sire of all the world’s values.

Never weep, let them play,

Old violence is not too old to beget new values.

http://poetryoutloud.org/poems/poem.html?id=11973

-Colin

The Value of Transcendentalism

Today we were talking about whether or not Emerson would have considered his work and transcendentalism a "success." Is success measured in terms of practical application of an idea or in terms popularity? I think we agree that transcendentalism, while not necessarily a commonly followed idea, is certainly more popular than it is practical. However, if success is something concrete, then the most accurate way to gauge success is by looking at application, the only tangible aspect of philosophy. No one in class today seemed to think that idealist movements like transcendentalism could be applied to the real world, so how can one can one begin to measure their merit?

And if we can't measure their merit, is there a point in looking at them at all?

-Colin

Emerson on Children

When I was reading "Self-Reliance," Emerson's ideas pertaining to children caught my attention. R.W.E. makes the point that children are perhaps the most self-reliant people. Unlike adults, children aren't bound by social customs and mannerisms, and are instead free to act as they see fit. Furthermore, children are free to make judgments without regard to "consequences" and "interests."
While I think Emerson made some valid points, his idea as a whole seems counterintuitive to me for a couple reasons. First, when I was a child I know for a fact that I was anything but self-reliant. My parents had to do everything for me, and even now I'm still dependent on them for plenty of things. Next, while children may not be bound by customs, they are in many cases not knowledgeable enough to make good decisions and fair judgments. To label this ignorance as independence, as Emerson does, is foolish.
-Bryce C.

More peer editing for my poem?

Hey! I was wondering if any of you had any more suggestions for my poem. If you could critique it, that'd be great, thanks!

-- Tori

“I sometimes cannot find the words for what I feel.” – Billy Budd

From His Perspective, Maybe

Silence.

Always silence.

From the time the sun’s rays slash my eyelids in early morning

To the time I gaze at the slit of moonlight

That pierces the jagged edges through the shades.

Colors chop the light,

The halting, uneven movement of her lips,

The pixels of blood red and tainted pink.

They tell me that the mouth forms words

But I only know this from a priori sources,

Never a posteriori experiences.

In my mind, I can almost imagine

A different life,

A different me...

A different world in which I can

Almost smell the sounds

That exit the sharp angles of her mouth,

Almost feel the noises

That shove the air molecules around;

If only.

They say that silence is “deafening.”

One word.

One word, one meaning.

One word, one meaning, one million shattered feelings.

They don’t know how much it hurts.

I wish I could explain how caustic, how biting

The meaning behind that word is to me.

She, tireless, patient,

Sympathetic, but not empathetic.

Never empathetic.

I love her.

But, sometimes,

I resent her.

She can hear.

I was a cracked, unfilled glass cup before.

Then she sloshed into me

All the words I know

And she overflowed me

With all the possible gestures I can use

To express myself.

But she doesn’t know.

I may be full to the brim,

But I am still broken, lonely and empty.

And when anyone gets too close, I cut them

On my jagged edges.

And so, even with years of gaining more words,

More twists of the fingers,

More bends of the arms,

More turns of the hand,

I still don’t know enough

To express myself.

Billy Bud and A Few Good Men

In class today, we discussed the idea of shunting emotional desires and emotional reasoning aside in favor of the law. This discussion reminded me of a movie that I had just been watching in my debate class. The movie, A Few Good Men, deals with many of the same themes as Billy Bud. It centers around the debate concerning whether orders should take precedence over personal choice, especially in a military setting.

The main difference between the ideas behind the two films is that A Few Good Men completely condemns the idea of following orders and ignoring emotional instincts. Billy Bud, seems to be far more ambiguous, especially during the captain's argument to his fellow jurors. Should orders be allowed to take precedence, especially in regards to the military? Was it the captain of The Avenger or Tom Cruise who was right?

Tara