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