Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Author of Walden; or, Life in the Woods
About the Author
In September 1842, Nathaniel Hawthorne noted this social encounter in his journal: "Mr. Thorow dined with us yesterday. He is a singular character---a young man with much of wild original nature still remaining in him; and so far as he is sophisticated, it is in a way and method of his own. He is show more as ugly as sin, long-nosed, queer-mouthed, and with uncouth and somewhat rustic, although courteous manners, corresponding very well with such an exterior. But his ugliness is of an honest and agreeable fashion, and becomes him much better than beauty. On the whole, I find him a healthy and wholesome man to know." Most responses to Thoreau are as ambiguously respectful as was Hawthorne's. Thoreau was neither an easy person to like nor an easy writer to read. Thoreau described himself as a mystic, a Transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher. He is a writer of essays about nature---not of facts about it but of his ideals and emotions in its presence. His wish to understand nature led him to Walden Pond, where he lived from 1845 to 1847 in a cabin that he built. Though he was an educated man with a Harvard degree, fluent in ancient and modern German, he preferred to study nature by living "a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust." Knowing this, we should beware of misreading the book that best reflected this great experience in Thoreau's life: Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854). It is not a handbook of the simple life. Though there are elements in the book of a "whole-earth catalogue" mentality, to focus on the radical "economic" aspects of Thoreau's work is to miss much in the book. Nor is it an autobiography. The right way to read Walden is as a "transcendental" narrative prose poem, whose hero is a man named Henry, a modern Odysseus in search of a "true America." Thoreau left Walden Pond on September 6, 1846, exactly two years, two months, and two days after he had settled there. As he explained in the pages of Walden: "I left the woods for as good a reason as I went to live there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one." Growth, change, and development were essential to his character. One should not overlook the significance of his selecting July 4 as the day for taking possession of his residence at Walden Pond, a day that celebrates the establishment of a new government whose highest ideal is individual freedom. In terms of Thoreau's redefinition of the nation-idea, "the only true America" is that place where one may grow wild according to one's nature, where one may "enjoy the land, but own it not." Thoreau believed that each person should live according to individual conscience, willing to oppose the majority if necessary. An early proponent of nonviolent resistance, he was jailed briefly for refusing to pay his poll tax to support the Mexican War and the slave system that had promoted that war. His essay "On Civil Disobedience" (1849), which came from this period of passive resistance, was acknowledged by Mahatma Gandhi (who read it in a South African jail) as the basis for his campaign to free India. Martin Luther King, Jr. later attributed to Thoreau and Gandhi the inspiration for his leadership in the civil rights movement in the United States. Thoreau contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it sporadically afterwards. His health declined over three years with brief periods of remission, until he eventually became bedridden. Recognizing the terminal nature of his disease, Thoreau spent his last years revising and editing his unpublished works, particularly The Maine Woods and Excursions, and petitioning publishers to print revised editions of A Week and Walden. He died on May 6, 1862 at age 44. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Henry David Thoreau
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Walden / The Maine Woods / Cape Cod (1849) 933 copies, 2 reviews
Faith in a Seed: The Dispersion Of Seeds And Other Late Natural History Writings (1993) 322 copies, 4 reviews
Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) (2008) 252 copies, 4 reviews
WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS 140 copies
Walden, or, Life in the Woods: Selections from the American Classic (Shambhala Pocket Classics) (1992) 73 copies, 1 review
Walden / The Maine Woods / A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Civil Disobedience (1997) 52 copies
The Concord and the Merrimack; excerpts from A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1954) 45 copies
Thoreau and the Art of Life: Reflections on Nature and the Mystery of Existence (2006) 45 copies, 9 reviews
Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil disobedience, Life without principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A plea for Captain John Brown (1996) 37 copies
Henry David Thoreau: Walden, The Maine Woods, Collected Essays and Poems: A Library of America College Edition (Library of America College Editions) (2007) — Author — 36 copies
Summer 32 copies
Civil Disobedience, Solitude and Life Without Principle (Literary Classics (Prometheus Books)) (2011) 25 copies
Henry David Thoreau, The Poet's Delay: A Collection of Poetry by America's Greatest Observer of Nature (1992) 25 copies
The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) (2004) 25 copies
The wind that blows is all that anybody knows;: The thoughts of Henry David Thoreau (A Stanyan book, 5) (1970) 22 copies
Thoreau: Walden / The Maine Woods / A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Civil Disobedience (1997) 20 copies
A Yearning Toward Wildness: Environmental Quotations from the Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1991) 18 copies
Resistance to Civil Government and Other Writings (Books That Changed the World Series) (2005) 18 copies
Early Spring in Massachusetts (The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: with Bibliographical Introductions and Full Indexes, Vol. 5) (2008) 17 copies
In the Woods and Fields of Concord: Selections from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau (1982) 17 copies
The Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau: Canoeing in the Wilderness, Walden, Walking, Civil Disobedience and More (2012) 17 copies
To Live Deliberately: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For (Obvious State Classics Collection) (2019) 15 copies, 1 review
Of Woodland Pools, Spring-Holes and Ditches: Excerpts from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau (2010) 15 copies
Walden and Other Writings: Civil Disobedience; Slavery in Massachusetts; A Plea for Captain John Brown; Life Without Principle (2000) 15 copies
The Correspondence of Henry D. Thoreau: Volume 1: 1834 - 1848 (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) (2013) 15 copies
résister à la tentation du laissez-faire, au réformisme et à l'esprit commercial des temps modernes (2011) 11 copies
Civil Disobedience; Walden (selections); The Death of Ivan Ilych (Great Books Foundation First Year Course, VIII) (1955) 10 copies
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 7: 1853-1854 (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) (2009) 7 copies
The Essential Henry David Thoreau Collection: 4 Books in 1 | Walden | Civil Disobedience | A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers | Walking (2021) 7 copies
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 8: 1854. (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) (2002) 7 copies
Guide to Cape Cod; based on Cape Cod 6 copies
Denken mit Henry David Thoreau: Von Natur und Zivilisation, Einsamkeit und Freundschaft, Wissenschaft und Politik (2008) 5 copies
A Desobediência Civil Seguido de Walden. Rebeldes e Malditos. Convencional (Em Portuguese do Brasil) (2016) 5 copies
Thoreau's complete works 4 copies
Henry David Thoreau The Maine Woods 4 copies
The Correspondence of Henry D. Thoreau: Volume 2: 1849-1856 (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau) (2018) 4 copies
The transmigration of the seven Brahmans; a translation from the Harivansa of Langlois (1972) 3 copies
Resistance To Civil Government: On Civil Disobedience and other Essays Annotated (2010) 3 copies, 1 review
Simplify: Selected Writings from Henry David Thoreau; Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Reform and Reformers (2010) 3 copies
The Dream of the Toad 3 copies
The Library a Wilderness 3 copies
L'esclavage au Massachusetts : Le journal Heald of Freedom ; Wensell Philips au lycéum de Concord (2018) 3 copies
Selections from Thoreau 2 copies
L'esprit commercial des temps modernes et son influence sur le caractère politique, moral et littéraire d'une nation (2007) 2 copies, 1 review
The first and last journeys of Thoreau : lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts (2007) 2 copies
The New Walden 2 copies
Correspondance: Henry David Thoreau et Ralph Waldo Emerson (Éditions du Sandre - bilingual edition) (2009) 2 copies
Жизнь вне условий 2 copies
WALDEN O/S 2 copies
Vita di uno scrittore 2 copies
DESOBEDIÊNCIA CIVIL (P10L77) 2 copies
Walden and Other Writings Civil Disobedience, slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea For Captain John Brown & Life Without Principles (1970) 2 copies
Shoe-strings 2 copies
Camping in the Maine woods 2 copies
Where the Pressed Earth Shines Most 2 copies
Thoreau 2 copies
Cape Cod : volume II 2 copies
John Brown 2 copies
Désobéir 2 copies
La d©♭sob©♭issance civile ; suivi de Visiteurs : propos sur un b© cheron canadien-fran©ʹais (1982) 2 copies
Pensoj el Valdeno 2 copies
Thoreau, Reporter of the Universe: A Selection of His Writings About Nature, for All Readers from Eight Years Old to Eighty (1939) 2 copies
Thinking Louder & Clearer 1 copy
Cape Cod : volume I 1 copy
THE MAINE WOODS O/S ? 1 copy
Życie bez zasad : eseje 1 copy
Succession of forest trees 1 copy
Sobre la desobediencia civil. Walden y la vida en los bosques. Los últimos días de John Brown. Profesión de fe (2014) 1 copy
Yürümek & Kış Yürüyüşü 1 copy
Henry David Thoreau Box Set 1 copy
Of Friendship 1 copy
Riverside Edition. The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume V. Early Spring in Massachusetts (2016) 1 copy
Walden & Other Writings (92) by Thoreau, Henry David - Matthiessen, Peter [Paperback (2000)] (2000) 1 copy
Selected Writings 1 copy
Burgerlijke ongehoorzaamheid 1 copy
On the study of disobedience 1 copy
[Title missing] 1 copy
Friendship, Love & Marriage By Henry D. Thoreau and a Little Journey to Henry D. (1923) — Contributor — 1 copy
UN FILÓSOFO EN LOS BOSQUES 1 copy
コッド岬 浜辺の散策 1 copy
ヘンリー・ソロー全日記 1851年 1 copy
ヘンリー・ソロー日記 1852年 1 copy
ソロー 博物誌 1 copy
THOREAU: PHILOSOPHER OF FREEDOM - Writings on Liberty By Henry David Thoreau, Selected, with an Introduction By James Mackaye (1930) 1 copy
La vida en los bosques 1 copy
THOREAU - Four Writings 1 copy
The Maine Woods and Walden 1 copy
Spring 1 copy
Opere scelte 1 copy
American writers series 1 copy
The Essay on Friendship 1 copy
Walden ; Sartor Resartus 1 copy
Selections From Walden 1 copy
Woodshed 1 copy
Summer (misfiled) 1 copy
The Chronicles of the Cid 1 copy
“Sic Vita” 1 copy
The writings of Henry David Thoreau ; with bibliographical introductions and full indexes Volume 10 (2012) 1 copy
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: With Bibliographical Introductions and Full Indexes. In Ten Volumes (V.3) (1893-99) (2009) 1 copy
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: With Bibliographical Introductions and Full Indexes. In Ten Volumes (V.5) (1893-99) (2009) 1 copy
The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: With Bibliographical Introductions and Full Indexes. In Ten Volumes (V.7) (1893-99) (2009) 1 copy
Les forêts du Maine : Suivi de Une excursion au Wachusett et La succession des arbres en forêt (2018) 1 copy
An Ideal 1 copy
On Water 1 copy
A wood fire from Walden 1 copy
Survey of a Swamp 1 copy
Still Deep & Sweet 1 copy
A Tribute to John Brown 1 copy
Reform and the Reformers 1 copy
Thomas Carlyle and His Works 1 copy
On Land 1 copy
Thoreau's Journals — Author — 1 copy
The Walk to Land's End 1 copy
Kring Bellman 1 copy
Coratge cívic 1 copy
Thoreau’s Journals 1 copy
Coratge cívic 1 copy
The Essay on Friendship. 1 copy
Life without principle : three essays / by Henry David Thoreau with a preface by Henry Miller. 1946 1 copy
Breviario para ciudadanos libres.: Selección, traducción, presentación y apéndice de Mauricio Bach (1999) 1 copy
Variorum Walden, the 1 copy
A Different Drummer 1 copy
BOX CAMINHOS DE THOREAU (2 LIVROS + PÔSTER + SUPLEMENTO COM TEXTOS COMPLEMENTARES + MARCADORES) (2022) 1 copy
Breviario para ciudadanos libres: En defensa de una vida sencilla y en comunión con la Naturaleza (2023) 1 copy
The World Of Andrew Wyeth - 1 copy
Henry David Thoreau Collection: Walden, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Walking, and Cape Cod (2020) 1 copy
Ausgewählte Essays 1 copy
The Essential Henry David Thoreau Collection: Walden, on the Duty of Civil Disobedience, And Walking (Illustrated) (2020) 1 copy
Walden, sau viața în pădure 1 copy
Amistad, amor y matrimonio 1 copy
Some Unpublished Letters Of Henry D. And Sophia E. Thoreau: A Chapter In The History Of A Stillborn Book (2007) 1 copy
Gens de Concord 1 copy
O TRATADO DA DESOBEDIÊNCIA CIVIL - INCLUI O CLÁSSICO SOBRE A SERVIDÃO VOLUNTÁRIA -DOIS LIVROS EM UM (2023) 1 copy
A Walk to Land's End 1 copy
Associated Works
The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost (2004) — Contributor — 1,249 copies, 3 reviews
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 622 copies, 9 reviews
A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love (2003) — some editions — 567 copies, 5 reviews
Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History (2002) — Contributor — 367 copies, 2 reviews
Social and Political Philosophy: Readings From Plato to Gandhi (1963) — Contributor — 274 copies, 1 review
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume 1 (1990) — Contributor, some editions — 252 copies, 1 review
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From "Kubla Khan" to the Brontë Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray (2012) — Contributor — 213 copies, 2 reviews
The American Intellectual Tradition, A Sourcebook: Volume I, 1630-1865 (1989) — Contributor, some editions — 204 copies
American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation (2012) — Contributor — 146 copies
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 117 copies
War No More: Three Centuries of American Antiwar and Peace Writing (2016) — Contributor — 109 copies, 2 reviews
Writing New York: A Literary Anthology (Expanded 10th-Anniversary Edition) (2008) — Contributor — 101 copies, 1 review
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 73 copies, 1 review
Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Vol. 2: Love, Marriage, and the Family (1966) — Contributor — 36 copies
Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Vol. 5: Community Responsibility (1969) — Contributor — 30 copies
American Literature: The Makers and the Making (In Two Volumes) (1973) — Contributor, some editions — 25 copies
The Serpent and the Fire: Poetries of the Americas from Origins to Present (2024) — Contributor — 17 copies
America's Great Wilderness: In the words of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, John Burroughs, Theodore Roosevelt, Stewart (1976) — Contributor — 5 copies
The Delphian Course : Part Seven : Story of the Drama, Nature Study — Contributor — 4 copies
A reader for writers — Contributor — 2 copies
Ode to Boy: Vol. 2: An Anthology of Same-Sex Attraction in Literature from the 19th Century Through the First World War (2014) — Contributor — 2 copies
Les Misérables / The White Seal / Remembrance of Things Past / Selected Passages from Walden (1987) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Thoreau, David Henry
- Birthdate
- 1817-07-12
- Date of death
- 1862-04-06
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Harvard College (AB|1837)
- Occupations
- teacher
writer
essayist
poet
philosopher
inventor (show all 7)
pencil maker - Organizations
- Underground Railroad
Huckleberry Party
Transcendentalism - Relationships
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo (friend)
Alcott, Louisa May (student)
Fuller, Margaret (friend)
Jackson, Lidian (friend) - Short biography
- Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of such notable figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Thoreau is sometimes referred to as an anarchist. Though "Civil Disobedience" seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government—"I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government"—the direction of this improvement contrarily points toward anarchism: "'That government is best which governs not at all;' and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have." - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA
New York, New York, USA - Place of death
- Concord, Massachusetts, USA
- Burial location
- Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts, USA
- Map Location
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Discussions
Thoreau in Fine Press in Fine Press Forum (September 2024)
Walden by Henry David Thoreau – STEEL 2022 in Fine Press Forum (March 2024)
Walden in Book talk (November 2017)
1001 Group Read, June, 2012: Walden in 1001 Books to read before you die (July 2014)
Reviews
"Enter ye that have leisure and a quiet mind, who earnestly seek the right road." (pg. 219)
There's an odd mix of surprise, frustration and satisfaction that comes when you enjoy a book that, in the majority of opinions you have heard, has been casually maligned. The often-adverse reputation of Walden – and its author, Henry David Thoreau – seems to be forged by many in its opening chapter, a long, indulgent ramble into its young author's worldview.
But you should never trust the opinion show more of someone who can't even finish a book, for not only does Walden emerge from its ramble into open ground, but that opening chapter begins to look better on reflection. Thoreau makes the case for a more even-paced, introspective life, arguing that the shift towards industrialization and ever more integrated societies has diminished man spiritually ("while civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them" (pg. 28)). While never a Luddite, he suggests there is an 'illusion' about our 'modern improvements'; "there is not always a positive advance" (pg. 43). For this, he is regularly cast as outdated, unrealistic and impenetrable (if he was writing nowadays, he would be 'problematic' or 'elitist', maybe even 'reactionary'). Thoreau is often criticised as verbose (is an essayist meant to provide action scenes?) and as workshy (is working around the clock for a corporation just to earn enough to put a rented roof over your head for a time supposed to be preferable?). Most absurdly, he is often labelled a fraud, because his cabin on Walden Pond hasn't been deemed remote enough; it was only a mile from his nearest neighbour, and only a short walk into the nearest town.
I imagine the same sort of people who make this criticism would also turn off At Folsom Prison and shatter the vinyl across their knee, upon learning that Johnny Cash never really shot a man in Reno. For not only are these criticisms absurd, but Thoreau pre-empts and incorporates them into his discussion. Walden is an honest and sincere work; while not rigorously academic, it argues its points lucidly and (surprisingly) playfully. Its general thesis is that modern man has no time to improve himself mentally or spiritually, and that in society we are too often "obliged to dress and train, not to say think and believe, accordingly… [losing our] time into the bargain" (pg. 57). Nevertheless, Thoreau accepts he would seem indolent to a working townsman, but argues that this is because the townsman is living an unnatural life (pg. 92). Even in that opening polemical chapter, which occasionally strays towards bitterness, he acknowledges his "shortcomings and inconsistencies", his "cant and hypocrisy – chaff which I find it difficult to separate from my wheat, but for which I am as sorry as any man" (pg. 41). I suspect people don't like realising that so much of their lives is not their own (we can ignore the ball-and-chain so long as it doesn't make a noise), and so react badly to the one – Thoreau – who points it out to them. Considering Walden contains appeals to abolitionism, social improvement and even vegetarianism (all in 1854), it's odd that Thoreau is sometimes characterised as an idle, head-in-the-clouds misanthrope. Some of the modern criticism of Thoreau amounts practically to character assassination, a countermeasure deployed almost as a reflex.
There is far more to Walden than the general thesis I mentioned in the previous paragraph, though it's hard to isolate the ideas in a way that would allow for a flowing review. There are persistent reflections on life and society, often told in a very quotable way that encourages further pondering on the part of the reader. And for a book that appears at first glance to be quite stuffy and dated, Walden is often bracingly relevant. In our modern rush, we are "determined to be starved before we are hungry" (pg. 75); we don't have the "leisure for a true integrity day by day" (pg. 5) and have "become the tools of our tools" (pg. 31). "We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other" (pg. 112), and we are "in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate" (pg. 43). Yes, the magnetic telegraph may be obsolete, but how many Twitter handles are there in Maine and Texas today? "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone," Thoreau says on page 66, hence the simple life in a log cabin by a quiet pond. In light of this, how many of us, with all our competing worries, indentures and petty responsibilities, can be considered rich today? How many of us even have the time to think about it? Let me sit with Thoreau by Walden Pond awhile.
Thoreau's criticisms of the modern way of life won't appeal to everyone, but for those who love to read challenging books not for prestige but for the sensation they bring, and for those introspective types who "find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time" and that "to be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating" (pg. 111), Walden will be a very rich experience. At its best moments, it may even be a tonic. Its rich, even pace, its ornate but straight-shooting sentences, and its unashamed advocacy of intelligent living and book-learning over superficial, unreflective scrabbling and junk-reading will appeal to people of a certain mark, and only those of that mark. I am one of them, and if you believe you're of the same mind, then it's "worth the while to see the silver grain sparkle when you split this wood" (pg. 164). It's worth seeing what thoughts you can hew from Walden's trunk.
"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." (pg. 265) show less
There's an odd mix of surprise, frustration and satisfaction that comes when you enjoy a book that, in the majority of opinions you have heard, has been casually maligned. The often-adverse reputation of Walden – and its author, Henry David Thoreau – seems to be forged by many in its opening chapter, a long, indulgent ramble into its young author's worldview.
But you should never trust the opinion show more of someone who can't even finish a book, for not only does Walden emerge from its ramble into open ground, but that opening chapter begins to look better on reflection. Thoreau makes the case for a more even-paced, introspective life, arguing that the shift towards industrialization and ever more integrated societies has diminished man spiritually ("while civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them" (pg. 28)). While never a Luddite, he suggests there is an 'illusion' about our 'modern improvements'; "there is not always a positive advance" (pg. 43). For this, he is regularly cast as outdated, unrealistic and impenetrable (if he was writing nowadays, he would be 'problematic' or 'elitist', maybe even 'reactionary'). Thoreau is often criticised as verbose (is an essayist meant to provide action scenes?) and as workshy (is working around the clock for a corporation just to earn enough to put a rented roof over your head for a time supposed to be preferable?). Most absurdly, he is often labelled a fraud, because his cabin on Walden Pond hasn't been deemed remote enough; it was only a mile from his nearest neighbour, and only a short walk into the nearest town.
I imagine the same sort of people who make this criticism would also turn off At Folsom Prison and shatter the vinyl across their knee, upon learning that Johnny Cash never really shot a man in Reno. For not only are these criticisms absurd, but Thoreau pre-empts and incorporates them into his discussion. Walden is an honest and sincere work; while not rigorously academic, it argues its points lucidly and (surprisingly) playfully. Its general thesis is that modern man has no time to improve himself mentally or spiritually, and that in society we are too often "obliged to dress and train, not to say think and believe, accordingly… [losing our] time into the bargain" (pg. 57). Nevertheless, Thoreau accepts he would seem indolent to a working townsman, but argues that this is because the townsman is living an unnatural life (pg. 92). Even in that opening polemical chapter, which occasionally strays towards bitterness, he acknowledges his "shortcomings and inconsistencies", his "cant and hypocrisy – chaff which I find it difficult to separate from my wheat, but for which I am as sorry as any man" (pg. 41). I suspect people don't like realising that so much of their lives is not their own (we can ignore the ball-and-chain so long as it doesn't make a noise), and so react badly to the one – Thoreau – who points it out to them. Considering Walden contains appeals to abolitionism, social improvement and even vegetarianism (all in 1854), it's odd that Thoreau is sometimes characterised as an idle, head-in-the-clouds misanthrope. Some of the modern criticism of Thoreau amounts practically to character assassination, a countermeasure deployed almost as a reflex.
There is far more to Walden than the general thesis I mentioned in the previous paragraph, though it's hard to isolate the ideas in a way that would allow for a flowing review. There are persistent reflections on life and society, often told in a very quotable way that encourages further pondering on the part of the reader. And for a book that appears at first glance to be quite stuffy and dated, Walden is often bracingly relevant. In our modern rush, we are "determined to be starved before we are hungry" (pg. 75); we don't have the "leisure for a true integrity day by day" (pg. 5) and have "become the tools of our tools" (pg. 31). "We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other" (pg. 112), and we are "in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate" (pg. 43). Yes, the magnetic telegraph may be obsolete, but how many Twitter handles are there in Maine and Texas today? "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone," Thoreau says on page 66, hence the simple life in a log cabin by a quiet pond. In light of this, how many of us, with all our competing worries, indentures and petty responsibilities, can be considered rich today? How many of us even have the time to think about it? Let me sit with Thoreau by Walden Pond awhile.
Thoreau's criticisms of the modern way of life won't appeal to everyone, but for those who love to read challenging books not for prestige but for the sensation they bring, and for those introspective types who "find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time" and that "to be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating" (pg. 111), Walden will be a very rich experience. At its best moments, it may even be a tonic. Its rich, even pace, its ornate but straight-shooting sentences, and its unashamed advocacy of intelligent living and book-learning over superficial, unreflective scrabbling and junk-reading will appeal to people of a certain mark, and only those of that mark. I am one of them, and if you believe you're of the same mind, then it's "worth the while to see the silver grain sparkle when you split this wood" (pg. 164). It's worth seeing what thoughts you can hew from Walden's trunk.
"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." (pg. 265) show less
Thoreau’s by far best known for Walden, but this is a contender for his best. He learned from the weaknesses in his earlier writings – no long digressions here, no frequent intrusions of bad poetry, the book’s conceived and structured well. And besides avoiding his earlier mistakes it’s a great story told well. Almost all of it is description of his Maine travels, but where he does wax philosophical it’s welcome, with his characteristically acute observations and a perspective show more that’s the opposite of provincial, whether in time, place, nation, culture, etc. show less
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Essay #50: Walden (1854), by Henry David Thoreau
The story in a nutshell:
Although not published until 1854, Henry David Thoreau's Walden is a chronicle of events show more that happened to this young radical liberal a decade previous -- when, inspired by his new buddies the Transcendentalists, and growing increasingly sick and tired of the conspicuous consumption on display among his middle-class neighbors in Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau decided to try an experiment, and see just how simply he could actually live his life and still count it a happy one. And the answer, as we see in this 300-page collection of thoughts and observations, is pretty simple indeed; turns out that Thoreau took great delight living in a tar-papered shack in a woodland area on the edge of town, and for the most part found an evening on his porch reading a book and being one with nature to be just as satisfying as the elaborate parlor games of the Victorian townfolk, played inside their elaborate parlors which cost thousands more dollars to construct and maintain. In fact, that's mostly what this book is, detailed yet simple observations about the day-to-day life he experienced during his two years in the woods (truncated to one year in the book for metaphorical purposes), along with lessons for how you can live a more simplified life too, as well as a fair amount of youthful indignation over more people not doing so.
The argument for it being a classic:
The main argument for this being a classic seems to be the profound amount of influence it's had in the 150 years since its publication; it almost singlehandedly kickstarted the social movement known as environmentalism and the scientific practice known as ecology, is what many claim to be the clearest explanation of Transcendentalism ever written, and (fans claim) lays the groundwork for the political theory now known as anarchy, with no less than Emma Goldman calling Thoreau "the best radical in American history." (And of course, let's not forget that Thoreau also literally invented the concept of modern civil disobedience -- you know, in his essay "Civil Disobedience," used as a virtual field guide by such future social reformers as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.) Now add the fact that, for many people, the reading of this book is a deeply moving personal experience, an emotional appeal for simplicity, empathy and decency that can profoundly connect with certain readers when read at certain moments in their life (but see below for more on this); and then add the very modern argument that Thoreau is the quintessential proto-blogger here in Walden as well, creating the rules that have practically defined public journaling ever since -- often frustrating, frequently self-righteous, yet a funny and charming deep observer of the minutia governing our daily lives, explaining by analysis why we should be paying more attention in the first place.
The argument against:
The main argument against Walden being a classic can be fairly easily summed up with the following question: "Just who does that judgmental little freaking hippie think he is, anyway?!" And let's face it, even his fans easily admit that Thoreau was awfully opinionated, in this snotty and smug way that unfortunately has become a lasting trademark of political radicals on both the left and right; now combine this, his critics say, with the overwrought prose style so indicative of the Victorian Age, and especially Victorian writers in America, a country that much more passionately embraced the flowery, sickeningly sweet "Genteel" style of writing that fell out of style much sooner over in Europe. (And for an extra special treat, see this hilarious reader review at Goodreads.com on the subject of "Thoreauvian Douchebags" -- the young, sexy, crypto-hippie male undergraduates you always see reading Walden and playing hackysack on college quadrangles, that is, who claim to be all sensitive and progressive but secretly are really as misogynistic as Archie Bunker.) It may be historically important, its detractors claim, but Lord, the book ain't good, a rambling screed that has inspired countless waves of loafing, unwashed drains on society by now, a book to be ridiculed rather than celebrated.
My verdict:
So here today at the official halfway point of the CCLaP 100 essay series (only two and a half more years to go! ...sigh), it seems only appropriate that the book under review be a special case, an opportunity to examine a minor but important aspect about the "classics" that I often don't get to discuss here -- that much like Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, my opinion of Walden turns out to have profoundly changed over the years, which highlights the fact that what we think of any particular book is influenced not only by what stage in history we read it but even what stage in life. Because when I was a punk-loving teen back in the '80s, I have to admit that my friends and I used to mercilessly make fun of this book -- and yes, partly that was to deliberately get the goat of our American Lit teacher*, a former '60s hippie who was horrified to hear of a generation of youth who didn't breathlessly love this title, but partly it was because I simply found it an unreadable bore back then, back when I was sick to death of living in a rural environment myself, and couldn't wait to move to a big city and lead a life of steel and concrete, of urbane coffeehouses and sleek skyscrapers.
But now here in my forties, after living in the sometimes very ugly Chicago for around 15 years, I found myself suddenly responding a lot more positively to what Thoreau has to say, reading it for the first time since high school and the first time ever from beginning to end; but far from it being his simple environmental message, I found myself instead nodding my head a lot more to his struggle to find a life for himself that's as stripped as possible of the middle-class consumerism going on around him, a simplified and self-sustaining life that doesn't ever outright shun the modern conveniences of the Industrial Age, but simply seeks to find a balance within this suddenly exploding world of cheap consumer goods. In fact, I find it sadly curious how many of his critics accuse Thoreau of "cheating" in Walden, because of details like his shack being only two miles from town, him doing his laundry using the modern facilities of his family's city home, and often spending the night in the house of neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson (actual owner of the woods where Walden Pond was located) on the coldest nights of winter, which seems to me to miss Thoreau's entire point; in fact, not once in this book does he advocate completely giving up on mechanized civilization, instead simply arguing that most of us can easily do without the rooms full of discretionary-income doodads we've collected over the years, which of course is the whole reason he left the woods after two years to begin with, a point he apparently makes even more explicit in later books, when he traverses much more literal wild area of nature and generally finds them unsuitable for daily living.
I find myself really responding positively to all these things, here during my middle-aged reading of Walden, in a way that I was simply incapable of when I was younger -- because of being less experienced, because of having a less sophisticated understanding of the world, because of having to overcome at the time the fawning love of the book by the intolerable flower children of my parents' generation. And that's why it can be instructive sometimes to revisit certain books over and over at different stations in life, because you never know when you might have "grown into" one that simply didn't speak to you when younger. That plus its massive historical influence is what lets me confidently label the book a classic, and specifically one that will most likely better stand the test of time than many of the other titles in this series, even though I know there's a group of resentful former American Lit students out there who would passionately argue otherwise.
Is it a classic? Yes
(And don't forget that the first 33 essays in this series are now available in book form!)
*And speaking of getting the goat of our American Lit teacher, the poor picked-on Stevie Hobart, it was a long-running tradition from the seniors to that year's juniors to urge them to say to her in class one day, "Say, I heard that Longfellow was gay," not only a stupid comment on its own but doubly annoying now over repeated years of use, which did indeed drive her into an explosive conniption fit when we asked it ourselves that year. show less
The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classics," then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Essay #50: Walden (1854), by Henry David Thoreau
The story in a nutshell:
Although not published until 1854, Henry David Thoreau's Walden is a chronicle of events show more that happened to this young radical liberal a decade previous -- when, inspired by his new buddies the Transcendentalists, and growing increasingly sick and tired of the conspicuous consumption on display among his middle-class neighbors in Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau decided to try an experiment, and see just how simply he could actually live his life and still count it a happy one. And the answer, as we see in this 300-page collection of thoughts and observations, is pretty simple indeed; turns out that Thoreau took great delight living in a tar-papered shack in a woodland area on the edge of town, and for the most part found an evening on his porch reading a book and being one with nature to be just as satisfying as the elaborate parlor games of the Victorian townfolk, played inside their elaborate parlors which cost thousands more dollars to construct and maintain. In fact, that's mostly what this book is, detailed yet simple observations about the day-to-day life he experienced during his two years in the woods (truncated to one year in the book for metaphorical purposes), along with lessons for how you can live a more simplified life too, as well as a fair amount of youthful indignation over more people not doing so.
The argument for it being a classic:
The main argument for this being a classic seems to be the profound amount of influence it's had in the 150 years since its publication; it almost singlehandedly kickstarted the social movement known as environmentalism and the scientific practice known as ecology, is what many claim to be the clearest explanation of Transcendentalism ever written, and (fans claim) lays the groundwork for the political theory now known as anarchy, with no less than Emma Goldman calling Thoreau "the best radical in American history." (And of course, let's not forget that Thoreau also literally invented the concept of modern civil disobedience -- you know, in his essay "Civil Disobedience," used as a virtual field guide by such future social reformers as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.) Now add the fact that, for many people, the reading of this book is a deeply moving personal experience, an emotional appeal for simplicity, empathy and decency that can profoundly connect with certain readers when read at certain moments in their life (but see below for more on this); and then add the very modern argument that Thoreau is the quintessential proto-blogger here in Walden as well, creating the rules that have practically defined public journaling ever since -- often frustrating, frequently self-righteous, yet a funny and charming deep observer of the minutia governing our daily lives, explaining by analysis why we should be paying more attention in the first place.
The argument against:
The main argument against Walden being a classic can be fairly easily summed up with the following question: "Just who does that judgmental little freaking hippie think he is, anyway?!" And let's face it, even his fans easily admit that Thoreau was awfully opinionated, in this snotty and smug way that unfortunately has become a lasting trademark of political radicals on both the left and right; now combine this, his critics say, with the overwrought prose style so indicative of the Victorian Age, and especially Victorian writers in America, a country that much more passionately embraced the flowery, sickeningly sweet "Genteel" style of writing that fell out of style much sooner over in Europe. (And for an extra special treat, see this hilarious reader review at Goodreads.com on the subject of "Thoreauvian Douchebags" -- the young, sexy, crypto-hippie male undergraduates you always see reading Walden and playing hackysack on college quadrangles, that is, who claim to be all sensitive and progressive but secretly are really as misogynistic as Archie Bunker.) It may be historically important, its detractors claim, but Lord, the book ain't good, a rambling screed that has inspired countless waves of loafing, unwashed drains on society by now, a book to be ridiculed rather than celebrated.
My verdict:
So here today at the official halfway point of the CCLaP 100 essay series (only two and a half more years to go! ...sigh), it seems only appropriate that the book under review be a special case, an opportunity to examine a minor but important aspect about the "classics" that I often don't get to discuss here -- that much like Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, my opinion of Walden turns out to have profoundly changed over the years, which highlights the fact that what we think of any particular book is influenced not only by what stage in history we read it but even what stage in life. Because when I was a punk-loving teen back in the '80s, I have to admit that my friends and I used to mercilessly make fun of this book -- and yes, partly that was to deliberately get the goat of our American Lit teacher*, a former '60s hippie who was horrified to hear of a generation of youth who didn't breathlessly love this title, but partly it was because I simply found it an unreadable bore back then, back when I was sick to death of living in a rural environment myself, and couldn't wait to move to a big city and lead a life of steel and concrete, of urbane coffeehouses and sleek skyscrapers.
But now here in my forties, after living in the sometimes very ugly Chicago for around 15 years, I found myself suddenly responding a lot more positively to what Thoreau has to say, reading it for the first time since high school and the first time ever from beginning to end; but far from it being his simple environmental message, I found myself instead nodding my head a lot more to his struggle to find a life for himself that's as stripped as possible of the middle-class consumerism going on around him, a simplified and self-sustaining life that doesn't ever outright shun the modern conveniences of the Industrial Age, but simply seeks to find a balance within this suddenly exploding world of cheap consumer goods. In fact, I find it sadly curious how many of his critics accuse Thoreau of "cheating" in Walden, because of details like his shack being only two miles from town, him doing his laundry using the modern facilities of his family's city home, and often spending the night in the house of neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson (actual owner of the woods where Walden Pond was located) on the coldest nights of winter, which seems to me to miss Thoreau's entire point; in fact, not once in this book does he advocate completely giving up on mechanized civilization, instead simply arguing that most of us can easily do without the rooms full of discretionary-income doodads we've collected over the years, which of course is the whole reason he left the woods after two years to begin with, a point he apparently makes even more explicit in later books, when he traverses much more literal wild area of nature and generally finds them unsuitable for daily living.
I find myself really responding positively to all these things, here during my middle-aged reading of Walden, in a way that I was simply incapable of when I was younger -- because of being less experienced, because of having a less sophisticated understanding of the world, because of having to overcome at the time the fawning love of the book by the intolerable flower children of my parents' generation. And that's why it can be instructive sometimes to revisit certain books over and over at different stations in life, because you never know when you might have "grown into" one that simply didn't speak to you when younger. That plus its massive historical influence is what lets me confidently label the book a classic, and specifically one that will most likely better stand the test of time than many of the other titles in this series, even though I know there's a group of resentful former American Lit students out there who would passionately argue otherwise.
Is it a classic? Yes
(And don't forget that the first 33 essays in this series are now available in book form!)
*And speaking of getting the goat of our American Lit teacher, the poor picked-on Stevie Hobart, it was a long-running tradition from the seniors to that year's juniors to urge them to say to her in class one day, "Say, I heard that Longfellow was gay," not only a stupid comment on its own but doubly annoying now over repeated years of use, which did indeed drive her into an explosive conniption fit when we asked it ourselves that year. show less
This is an important historic essay with applications for today (and all of time). Thoreau is speaking against slavery and a War, but the greater argument is FOR independent minds and the right to free speech without legal or interpersonal silencing (or “being cancelled”). As I write this, there is talk of “a mandate” that all should support the Presidential admin because of an overwhelming win in an election; and it is used to justify ALL actions of the current agenda. Probably the show more real “mandate” was to avoid the loser’s plan and agenda.
However, strong support for one party’s Economic plan is not support for any war anywhere; moderate preference of one party over another or one candidate over another should not be viewed as a blank-check for any and every plan of the party in power.
We should be able legally and in the public arena to say “Though I voted for____, I do not agree with ____” while still remaining welcome among those with whom we disagree sometimes. show less
However, strong support for one party’s Economic plan is not support for any war anywhere; moderate preference of one party over another or one candidate over another should not be viewed as a blank-check for any and every plan of the party in power.
We should be able legally and in the public arena to say “Though I voted for____, I do not agree with ____” while still remaining welcome among those with whom we disagree sometimes. show less
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