Author(s): Kaylyn Ruddy

Presentation: oral

The period of the American Renaissance was a time in which writers sought to answer many questions concerning aesthetics, and, in particular, the question of beauty's relation to nature. In their ponderings about nature and beauty, many writers also came to question the origin and significance of music, particularly as related to nature. Several writers believed that music resulted from humans imitating the sounds around us. Others developed this idea by suggesting that countries can have "national music"—music that is particular to a certain country because it mimics the sounds of nature there. Both major works and periodicals of the period explored what America's "national music" was, especially considering the many industrial sounds Americans heard in the mid-1800s. Given this cultural understanding of the presence of a national music that echoes the sounds of the landscape, a close-reading of Thoreau's "Sounds" from Walden reveals that he believed the "music" Americans were exposed to was a hybrid of both nature and human effects on nature. In the end, my research and analysis suggest that Thoreau understood that we, as humans, create beauty from that to which we are exposed, be it nature or industry.

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