Born in 1817, in Concord, Henry David Thoreau became one of the greatest writers among the American Renaissance. Thoreau based his whole philosophy on the fact that man needed to get rid of material things in order to be an individual. An exquisitely educated man, Thoreau went to Harvard, which placed heavy emphasis on the classics. Thoreau studied a curriculum that included grammar and composition, mathematics, English, history, and various philosophies. He also spoke fluently in …showed first 75 words of 544 total…

…showed last 75 words of 544 total…have discovered the magic of Henry David Thoreau’s pen. Just a man from Concord, Massachusetts, he lived an extraordinary life as a simple man. That, however, was all Thoreau ever wanted to accomplish, to show people that a person could be an individual, live simple, and do without material things. With the publication of Walden, Thoreau showed the world that it was indeed possible; he had lived "to the beat of his own drummer."