Henry David Thoreau's apotheosis of John Brown: A study of nineteenth century rhetorical heroism

Abstract

In the winter of 1859 through the summer of 1860, Henry David Thoreau delivered three speeches about John Brown, whose recent raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, stirred controversy throughout the Union. In his speeches, Thoreau addressed Brown and his deeds, celebrating their justice and defending them from attacks by more compromising abolitionists. Examining Thoreau's work in the context of nineteenth century attitudes towards heroism in general and rhetorical heroism in particular (as expressed by Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson), I argue that Thoreau did not celebrate Brown as a hero of abolitionism, but transfigured him into a demi‐god for Thoreau's own brand of transcendentalism. Furthermore, I argue that in his treatment of John Brown, Thoreau effectively made himself a rhetorical hero of transcendentalism, a hero linked to Carlyle's Hero as Man of Letters.