Themes

Celebration of primeval American landscape America as a garden-set aside by God Unspoiled nature and expressions of the Divine Lack of narrative detail Limitless potential of unspoiled landscape Man in harmony with nature Interplay between light and dark forces Prosperity and freedom

Symbols

Tiny figures-men Water-reflecting the Divine-linking Mountains-power of geology-apart from Europe Sky-soul, spirit, divine Trees, branches-”like men...they exhibit striking

peculiarities and originality”-fragility of nature and man-impermanence

Thomas Cole (1801-1848) Discovered in 1825 by

– John Trumbull,– William Dunlap– Asher B. Durand

“The subject of art should be pure and lofty . . .a moral, religious, or poetic effect must be produced on the mind.”

The Course of Empire: The Savage State, 1836

Catskill Mountain House: The Four Elements, 1843-44

Kindred Spirits – Asher Durand, 1849

NiagaraFrederic Church, 1857

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

One of first major artists to explore the West

The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak (1863)

A Storm in the Rocky Mountains (1866)

Yosemite Valley (1875)

Albert Bierstadt, Yosemite Valley (1875)

Emerson's Home in Concord, Mass.

Henry David Thoreau

(born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)

Studied at Harvard University between 1833 and 1837Teacher at Concord Academy-fired for refusing to

use corporal punishmentHe and his brother John then opened a

grammar school in Concord in 1838. Closes after John dies from tetanus.

Worked as tutor for EmersonWorked in father's pencil factory

July 4, 1845-begins his experiment at Walden Pond-land owned by Emerson

July of 1846-arrested for refusal to pay poll tax

Thoreau left Walden Pond on September 6, 1847Walden published in 1854Later work focuses on naturalist observationsHe died on May 6, 1862 at age 44.

Mike at Walden Pond-1995

Thoreau's Cabin at Walden Pond