Walden Or, Life in the Woods I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbours up. ☞ Table of Contents
Walden, series of 18 essays by Henry David Thoreau, published in 1854 and considered his masterwork. An important contribution to New England Transcendentalism, the book was a record of Thoreau’s experiment in simple living on Walden Pond in Massachusetts (1845–47).
After more than two years, Thoreau leaves Walden transformed by the experience. He urges each man to explore the uncharted territories within him, to obey only the laws of his own being, and to devote his life to the work he cares about, no matter how poor he is.
Walden; or, Life in the Woods is a nonfiction book about Thoreau's experience at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, from July 1845 to September 1847.
Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber.
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This essay was written in 1995 for an exhibit commemorating the 150th anniversary of Thoreau's move to Walden Pond and his writing of the American classic, Walden; it has been updated for inclusion here.
Thoreau's Survey of Walden Pond in 1846 Related Texts J. Lyndon Shanley's Transcription of the First Version of Walden