Travelling with Fuller and Thoreau The mid-1800s were a time of continued physical exploration of the American landscape and an era of opportunity for thorough survey of the land; areas sometimes identified by the traveler with the help of travel diaries and maps. These detailed records reflected a destination and also allowed for an intellectual journey of the mind. In Margaret Fuller's “Summer on the Lake” and Henry David Thoreau's “Cape Cod,” we experience their physical and internal journeys and how each author relates, both physically and mentally, to the natural landscape; the similarities, the differences and what each clarified, to research their journeys. The observed physical differences of natural landscapes will be compared, followed by a deeper encounter with Thoreau, as to why, and to whom, his bleakest and darkest descriptions of the natural landscape achieved a distinctive psychological appeal, and how these two points of view refer to contemporary America. The title alone, “Summer on the Lake,” creates a refreshing image of sparkling water and sunshine, surrounded by evergreens and the voices of children playing, right? And it should be, because this is what the author, Margaret Fuller, intended to experience as she traveled that summer of 1843, to the Great Lakes. Margaret describes the many travel books and journals she studied to prepare for the trip. “I read Murray's travels and was fascinated by their accuracy and clear, broad tone.” (Fuller p.27) Yes, she was “fascinated” by the words of another; another's description of a place he had yet to travel to. SheSchoener 2 expected to find the beauty and...... middle of paper......chief of America, today it is even more so. The main difference is that we are able to learn from authors like Thoreau and Fuller, not just to read the words, but to "see" what they are saying, and to use that knowledge to imagine a landscape that is not just that of a journey . book, or on a sandy beach, but which is truly omnipresent. References: Emerson, R.W. The portable Emerson. Viking Edition:1981Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the lakes. Reprint 2010Thoreau, HD. The portable Thoreau. Viking-Penguin edition 1977Thoreau, HD. Head of Dover Publications Code. 2004Encyclopedia Britannica, online “Transcendentalism” 2010Abrams: Class Notes: 10-4 to 10-25Note: RE: Fuller. My text was missing the introductory page 7. I used several other editions found online to gather information, so the page numbers may not correspond correctly to any edition.