Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau decided to test the ideas of Emerson, that nature, self reliance, and nonconformity were the keys to one's happiness and life. As a student of Emerson's philosophies, Thoreau never stopped exploring Emerson's ideas. In Emerson's writings, the idea of escaping to nature is greatly emphasized. Thoreau practiced what Emerson preached when he abandoned society and went to live in a cabin by himself built near Walden Pond, where he began writing his own books. Thoreau found that whiling living outside of normal society and sauntering in nature, relying on no one but himself, he was happier than he had ever been, which ties together the importance of nature, self reliance, and nonconformity in Emerson's philosophies.