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Chronology
- University of Iowa Press
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[liii] UT Chronology 1817 12 July Born in Concord, Massachusetts, to John and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau 1818 Moves with family to Chelmsford, Massachusetts 1821 Moves with family to Boston 1823 Moves with family back to Concord 1828–1833 Attends Concord Academy 1833 30 August Enters Harvard College 1835 December Teaches school in Canton, Massachusetts, and studies German with Orestes Brownson for several weeks while on leave from Harvard College 1837 30 August Graduates with a B.A. from Harvard College; speaks at commencement exercises on “The Commercial Spirit of Modern Times, Considered in Its Influence on the Moral Character of a Nation” September Teaches for several days at Concord’s Center School; resigns over disagreement with administrators regarding necessity of corporal punishment Fall Attends meetings of the informal, newlyorganized group of Transcendentalists known as the “Hedge Club,” named for Unitarian minister and member Frederic Henry Hedge 22 October Begins keeping a journal, at Waldo Emerson’s suggestion [liv] 25 November Obituary notice of longtime Concord resident Anna Jones published in Yeoman’s Gazette 1838 Works with father in the family’s pencil manufactory , labor that continues intermittently throughout his life 11 April Lectures on “Society” in Concord June Opens small private school in his family’s home in Concord September Moves school from Thoreau home to the Concord Academy building; later joined by brother, John, in teaching and running school 18 October Elected Secretary of Concord Lyceum 7 November Elected a Curator of Concord Lyceum 1839 31 August Leaves for two-week excursion with brother, John, on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers in the Musketaquid, a boat of their own construction 6 November Reelected Secretary and a Curator of Concord Lyceum 1840 July “Sympathy” (poem) and “Aulus Persius Flaccus ” published in first issue of the Dial November Proposes marriage to Ellen Sewall, niece of family friend Prudence Ward 1841 January “Stanzas” (poem) published in the Dial 27 January With brother, John, debates Bronson Alcott on “Is It Ever Proper to Offer Forcible Resistance ?” at the Concord Lyceum March Declines invitation to join the Transcendentalist community of Brook Farm, then being organized by George and Sophia Ripley in West Roxbury, Massachusetts April Closes school due to John Thoreau Jr.’s ill health Chronology [lv] 26 April Moves in and lives with Emerson household through the spring of 1843 July “Sic Vita” (poem) published in the Dial October “Friendship” (poem) published in the Dial 1842 11 January Brother, John, dies of tetanus at age 26 July “Natural History of Massachusetts” and “Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf” (poem) published in the Dial With Richard Fuller, takes four-day hike to Wachusett Mountain Meets Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne, when the newlywed couple moves to Concord October “The Black Knight,” “The Inward Morning,” “Free Love,” “The Poet’s Delay,” “Rumors from an Aeolian Harp,” “The Moon,” “To a Maiden in the East,” “The Summer Rain” (poems) published in the Dial 18 November Reelected a Curator of Concord Lyceum 1843 January “The Laws of Menu” (selections) and “The Prometheus Bound” (translation) published in the Dial “A Walk to Wachusett” published in the Boston Miscellany 8 February Lectures on “The Life and Character of Sir Walter Raleigh” in Concord April Edits the Dial “Anacreon” (translations), “Ethnical Scriptures : Sayings of Confucius” (selections), “To a Stray Fowl” “Orphics: I. Smoke II. Haze” (poems ), and “Dark Ages” published in the Dial 6 May Until mid-December, lives with and tutors the three sons of William and Susan Haven Emerson in Staten Island, New York Chronology [lvi] June Declines invitation to join Fruitlands, a Transcendentalist community organized in Harvard , Massachusetts, by Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane October “Ethnical Scriptures: Chinese Four Books” (selections) and “A Winter Walk” published in the Dial “The Landlord” published in the United States Magazine, and Democratic Review November “Paradise (To Be) Regained” published in the United States Magazine, and Democratic Review 29 November Lectures on “Ancient Poets” in Concord 1844 January “Homer. Ossian. Chaucer” (extracts from lecture), “Pindar” (translations), “The Preaching of Buddha” (selections), and “Ethnical Scriptures: Hermes Trismegistus” (selections) published in the Dial 10 March Lectures twice on “Conservatives and Reformers ” in Boston April “Herald of Freedom” and “Fragments of Pindar ” (translation) published in the last issue of the Dial 30 April Accidentally sets fire to hundreds of wooded acres near Fair Haven Bay in Concord, while on an outing with Edward Hoar July Takes trip to Mt. Monadnock, New Hampshire; Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts; and the Catskills, accompanied a portion of...