In 'Walden', Thoreau uses the metaphor of 'different ______' to explain why people choose to live according to their own values.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: drummers
Thoreau wrote, 'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.' This remains one of the most famous defenses of individualism in American literature.
Keep practicing
More Transcendentalism questions
- Which Transcendentalist was known as the 'Prophet of Education' and founded the Temple School in Boston?
- Transcendentalism was heavily influenced by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the sacred texts of which religion?
- What did Emerson mean by the 'American Scholar' in his famous 1837 oration?
- Which Transcendentalist poet is known for 'The Rhodora', a poem that argues beauty exists for its own sake?
- Which of these concepts is NOT a central tenet of Transcendentalism?
- Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' is often seen as the poetic culmination of Transcendentalism because it celebrates: