Economy -- Where I lived, and what I lived for -- Reading -- Sounds -- Solitude -- Visitors -- The bean field -- The village -- The ponds -- Baker farm -- Higher laws -- Brute neighbors -- House-warming -- Former inhabitants; and winter visitors -- Winter animals -- the pond in winter -- Spring -- Conclusion -- Endnotes.
Summary:
Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is an American book written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. First published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The book compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human development.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.