Archive for the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) Category

Henry David Thoreau

Posted in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) with tags , , , , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

thoreau1July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,”

Henry David Thoreau is best remembered as a writer of poems, essays and books and for his leadership in the Transcendentalist movement. He famously removed himself from the grid – if such a thing existed in the 1800’s – and wrote about his intentionally simple life in the woods in his most popular work. Walden. But nothing about him was “simple.” Continue reading →

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Nathaniel Hawthorne

Posted in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) with tags , , on October 8, 2013 by Cade

hawthorne1July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864

Nathaniel Hathorne was born – without a ‘w’ – on July 4th, 1804 (U.S.A! U.S.A!) in Salem, Massachusetts. As in, “1690’s Witch Trial” Salem. This detail would factor greatly into his life. He was related to one of the judges in the infamous trials (he would later change his name to ‘Hawthorne’ to distance himself from this fact) and spent most of his life in and around New England. Because of this, most of the works that Hawthorne created were set in New England. But it was his novels The Scarlet Letter – set in pre-witch trial, Puritanical Salem – and The House of Seven Gables – also set, implicitly, in Salem – for which he is most widely regarded. Hawthorne explored themes of guilt and sin and deep symbolism in his novels and short stories. He also wrote non-fiction, including a biography of U.S. President and friend, Franklin Pierce.

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Louisa May Alcott

Posted in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) with tags , , , on October 7, 2013 by Cade

alcott1November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888

Though she wrote a number of letters, articles and novels (sometimes under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard) prior, Concord, MA resident Louisa May Alcott found her greatest literary success with 1868’s semi-autobiographical Little Women. Alcott was one of four daughters of transcendental parents and grew up with family friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.  The characters and incidents in Little Women are based on Alcott’s early life and relationship with her sisters. Continue reading →

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) with tags , , , on August 6, 2013 by Cade

emerson1May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882

One of the leaders of the American Transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson was an important poet, lecturer and essayist.  In addition to his popular essay collections that centered on self-reliance and an intellectual approach to God and the soul, he published a number of poems, most notably “The Rhodora” and “Concord Hymn” about the battles of Lexington and Concord, the beginnings of the American Revolutionary War.  He had close friendships with fellow Transcendental contemporaries like Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman and was a major influence on both personally and in their writings. Continue reading →

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