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 Italian, French, German, and
             Spanish. After his graduation in 1837, Thoreau became a teacher. He and his
             brother John, however, closed the school in 1841, for Thoreau knew writing
             was his passion. He kept a journal beginning in 1837, and most think he
             wrote way before that time. Thoreau's love for writing pushed him to make it
             Thoreau was also a big part of the Transcendentalist's Movement. The
             Transcendentalists assumed that the soul and nature were the two essential
             parts of the universe. "Transcendentalism started as a radical religious
             movement, opposed to the rationalist, conservative institution that
             Unitarianism had become." Unitarians had expressed the need for and
             conviction of a more personal and intuitive experience of the divine.
             "If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps it is because he
             hears a different drummer." Individuality was a big part of Thoreau's life;
             he believed that independent, well-thought action arose naturally from a
             curious mind. Although many people visited him at Walden Pond, Thoreau
             preferred to be alone. "I never found the companion that was so
             companionable as solitude." Thoreau liked solitude, a time when he wrote
             from his soul and was truly alone. Thoreau's love for nature was one of the
             most powerful aspects evident in Walden. Considered by some to be the father
             of the environmental movement, Thoreau referred back to nature in eve
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