Walden By Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) Essay, Research Paper

Walden, or, Life in the Woods, is a superbly

written, imaginative and detailed account. The journal offers an introspective

glimpse into two years of one of America’s truly great philosophers and

nonconformists. Walden is a classic piece of American literature which

still serves as a blueprint for simple, frugal, ethereal living.

At first glance, the work may seem nothing

more than a crude diary. But careful reading reveals a complex study comprising

the human mind’s attempt to discover both the obvious and obscure behind

man’s existence and his place in the natural world. Thoreau’s collection

of essays reflects the philosophy of American Transcendentalism in practice.

To him, most men live lives of “quiet desperation,” and have need to simplify,

to cast off material encumbrances and achieve true freedom. The stages

of spiritual evolution that a man passes through all prepare him for the

more difficult inner development; and every man, he believed, possesses

an inner spiritual instinct which, if nurtured and cared for, will reveal

his divine nature.

Just before he died, Thoreau made what

was considered his most pure yet subtly humorous religious utterance. When

asked if he had made his peace with God, he replied, “I was not aware we

had quarreled.”