Famous Poem

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American author, poet, abolitionist, and historian. Ralph Waldo Emerson was Thoreau’s neighbor, mentor, and friend. Both had Transcendental ideas, which was the American version of Romantic Idealism. Transcendentalists believed in focusing on the spiritual instead of material concerns. They believed society had tarnished the purity of an individual. Themes of Transcendentalism can be found in this poem. Though something seems firm and unwavering, you don’t see what is happening below the surface. Staying true to who we are will pay off in the end and keep you from destruction. This poem is made up of rhyming couplets.

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Famous Poem

Though All The Fates

By more Henry David Thoreau

Though all the fates should prove unkind,
Leave not your native land behind.
The ship, becalmed, at length stands still;
The steed must rest beneath the hill;
But swiftly still our fortunes pace
To find us out in every place.

The vessel, though her masts be firm,
Beneath her copper bears a worm;
Around the cape, across the line,
Till fields of ice her course confine;
It matters not how smooth the breeze,
How shallow or how deep the seas,
Whether she bears Manilla twine,
Or in her hold Madeira wine,
Or China teas, or Spanish hides,
In port or quarantine she rides;
Far from New England's blustering shore,
New England's worm her hulk shall bore,
And sink her in the Indian seas,
Twine, wine, and hides, and China teas.

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