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{{Short description|1854 book by Henry David Thoreau}}
{{About|the book by Henry David Thoreau}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox book <!--See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
|name = Walden
|image = Walden Thoreau.jpg
|caption = Original title page of ''Walden'' featuring a picture drawn by Thoreau's sister [[Sophia Thoreau|Sophia]]
|title_orig = Walden; or, Life in the Woods
|translator =
|author=[[Henry David Thoreau]]
|cover_artist =
|country = United States
|language = English
|series =
|genre = Memoir
|published= August 9, 1854<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/08/0809thoreau-walden-published/|title=Aug. 9, 1854: Thoreau Warns, 'The Railroad Rides on Us'|last=Alfred|first=Randy|date=August 9, 2010|work=[[Wired News]]|access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> ([[Ticknor and Fields]]: Boston)
|media_type = Print
|isbn =
|followed_by =
|wikisource = Walden, or, Life in the Woods
}}

'''''Walden''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɔː|l|d|ən}}; first published as '''''Walden; or, Life in the Woods''''') is an 1854 book by American [[transcendentalism|transcendentalist]] writer [[Henry David Thoreau]]. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, [[social experiment]], voyage of spiritual discovery, [[satire]], and—to some degree—a manual for [[Self-sustainability|self-reliance]].<ref>[https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/first-age-reform/essays/transcendentalism-and-social-reform transcendentalism and social reform] by Philip F. Gura, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History</ref>

''Walden'' 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|Concord]], Massachusetts.

Thoreau makes precise scientific observations of nature as well as metaphorical and poetic uses of natural [[Phenomenon|phenomena]]. He identifies many plants and animals by both their popular and scientific names, records in detail the color and clarity of different bodies of water, precisely dates and describes the freezing and thawing of the pond, and recounts his experiments to measure the depth and shape of the bottom of the supposedly "bottomless" Walden Pond.

== Background ==
There has been much speculation as to why Thoreau went to live at the pond in the first place. [[E. B. White]] stated on this note, "Henry went forth to battle when he took to the woods, and ''Walden'' is the report of a man torn by two powerful and opposing drives—the desire to enjoy the world and the urge to set the world straight", while [[Leo Marx]] noted that Thoreau's stay at Walden Pond was an experiment based on his teacher [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]'s "method and of nature" and that it was a "report of an experiment in transcendental [[Pastorialism|pastoralism]]".

Others have assumed Thoreau's intention during his time at [[Walden Pond]] was "to conduct an experiment: Could he survive, possibly even thrive, by stripping away all superfluous luxuries, living a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions?" He thought of it as an experiment in "[[home economics]]". Although Thoreau went to Walden to escape what he considered "over-civilization", and in search of the "raw" and "savage delight" of the wilderness, he also spent considerable amounts of his time reading and writing.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jonathan |first1=Levin |title=Introduction to Walden and Civil Disobedience |url=http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0709/2003109505-s.html |website=Library of Congress |access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>

Thoreau used his time at Walden Pond (July 4, 1845 – September 6, 1847) to write his first book, ''[[A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers]]'' (1849). The experience later inspired ''Walden'', in which Thoreau compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human development.

By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through introspection. [[Simple living]] and [[self-sufficiency]] were Thoreau's other goals. The whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the [[Romanticism#United States|American Romantic]] Period.

==Organization==
{{blockquote|I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.| [[Henry David Thoreau]]<ref>''Grammardog Guide to Walden'', by [[Henry David Thoreau]], Grammardog LLC, {{ISBN|1-60857-084-3}}, p. 25</ref>}}

Part memoir and part spiritual quest, ''Walden'' opens with the announcement that Thoreau spent two years at Walden Pond living a simple life without support of any kind. Readers are reminded that at the time of publication, Thoreau has returned to living among the civilized. The book is separated into several chapters, each of which focuses on specific themes:

'''''Economy:''''' In this first and longest chapter, Thoreau outlines his project: a two-year, two-month, and two-day stay at a cozy, "tightly shingled and plastered", English-style 10 by 15 foot cottage in the woods near Walden Pond.<ref name="Eserver.org">{{cite web |url=http://thoreau.eserver.org/smith.html |title=Thoreau's First Year at Walden in Fact & Fiction |first=Richard |last=Smith, Delivered at the Thoreau Society Annual Gathering, on July 14, 2007 |access-date=2014-05-03}}</ref> He does this, he says, to illustrate the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle. He easily supplies the four necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing, and fuel) with the help of family and friends, particularly his mother, his best friend, and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson. The latter provided Thoreau with a work exchange: he could build a small house and plant a garden if he cleared some land on the woodlot and did other chores while there.<ref name="Eserver.org"/> Thoreau meticulously records his expenditures and earnings, demonstrating his understanding of "economy", as he builds his house and buys and grows food.
[[File:Henry David Thoreau 2.jpg|thumb|Henry David Thoreau]]
The house's cost is {{US$|28.12|link=yes|year=1845}} and Thoreau gives "the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various materials which compose them":
:{|
|-
| Boards || {{decimal cell|$8.03½}} || Mostly shanty boards.
|-
| Refuse shingles for roof and sides || {{decimal cell|4.00}}
|-
| Laths || {{decimal cell|1.25}}
|-
| Two second-hand windows with glass || {{decimal cell|2.43}}
|-
| One thousand old brick || {{decimal cell|4.00}}
|-
| Two casks of [[Lime (material)|lime]] || {{decimal cell|2.40}} || That was high.
|-
| Hair || {{decimal cell|0.31}} || More than I needed.
|-
| Mantle-tree iron || {{decimal cell|0.15}}
|-
| [[Nail (fastener)|Nails]] || {{decimal cell|3.90}}
|-
| [[Hinges]] and [[screws]] || {{decimal cell|0.14}}
|-
| [[Latch]] || {{decimal cell|0.10}}
|-
| [[Chalk]] || {{decimal cell|0.01}}
|-
| Transportation || {{decimal cell|1.40}} || I carried a good part on my back.
|-
| {{space|4}} In all || {{decimal cell|style=border-top: solid 1px|$28.12½}}
|}

'''''Where I Lived, and What I Lived For:''''' Thoreau recollects thoughts of places he stayed at before selecting Walden Pond, and quotes Roman philosopher [[Cato the Elder|Cato]]'s advice "consider buying a farm very carefully before signing the papers".<ref name="Walden">Thoreau, Henry David. ''Walden Civil Disobedience and Other Writings''. W.W. Norton & Company, 2008, p. 61.</ref>  His possibilities included a nearby Hollowell farm (where the "wife" unexpectedly decided she wanted to keep the farm). Thoreau takes to the woods dreaming of an existence free of obligations and full of leisure. He announces that he resides far from social relationships that mail represents (post office) and the majority of the chapter focuses on his thoughts while constructing and living in his new home at Walden.<ref name="Eserver.org"/>

'''''Reading:''''' Thoreau discusses the benefits of [[classical literature]], preferably in the original [[Greek (language)|Greek]] or [[Latin]], and bemoans the lack of sophistication in Concord evident in the popularity of unsophisticated literature. He also loved to read books by world travelers.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7113.html |title=The Maine Woods Henry David Thoreau Edited by Joseph J. Moldenhauer With a new introduction by Paul Theroux |date=January 2004 |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |access-date=2014-05-03 |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122134430/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7113.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He yearns for a time when each New England village will support "wise men" to educate and thereby ennoble the population.

'''''Sounds:''''' Thoreau encourages the reader to be "forever on the alert" and "looking always at what is to be seen".<ref name="Walden" />  Although truth can be found in literature, it can also be found in nature. In addition to self-development, developing one's perception can also alleviate boredom. Rather than "look[ing] abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre", Thoreau's own life, including supposedly dull pastimes like housework, becomes a source of amusement that "never ceases to be novel".<ref name="Walden" />  Likewise, he obtains pleasure in the sounds that fill his cabin: church bells ringing, carriages rattling and rumbling, cows lowing, [[whip-poor-will]]s singing, owls hooting, frogs croaking, and [[cockerels]] crowing. "All sound heard at the greatest possible distance," he contends "produces one and the same effect".<ref name="Walden" />

'''''Solitude:''''' Thoreau reflects on the feeling of solitude. He explains how loneliness can occur even amongst companions if one's heart is not open to them. Thoreau meditates on the pleasures of escaping society and the petty things that society entails (gossip, fights, etc.). He also reflects on his new companion, an old settler who arrives nearby and an old woman with great memory ("memory runs back farther than mythology").<ref>Thoreau, Henry David. ''Walden Civil Disobedience and Other Writings''. W. W. Norton & Company, 2008, p. 96.</ref> Thoreau repeatedly reflects on the benefits of nature and of his deep communion with it and states that the only "medicine he needs is a draught of morning air".<ref name="Walden" />

'''''Visitors:''''' Thoreau talks about how he enjoys companionship (despite his love for solitude) and always leaves three chairs ready for visitors. The entire chapter focuses on the coming and going of visitors, and how he has more comers in Walden than he did in the city. He receives visits from those living or working nearby and gives special attention to a French Canadian born woodsman named Alec Thérien. Unlike Thoreau, Thérien cannot read or write and is described as leading an "animal life".{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} He compares Thérien to Walden Pond itself. Thoreau then reflects on the women and children who seem to enjoy the pond more than men, and how men are limited because their lives are taken up.

'''''The Bean-Field:''''' Reflection on Thoreau's planting and his enjoyment of this new job/hobby. He touches upon the joys of his environment, the sights and sounds of nature, but also on the military sounds nearby. The rest of the chapter focuses on his earnings and his cultivation of crops (including how he spends just under fifteen dollars on this).

'''''The Village:''''' The chapter focuses on Thoreau's reflections on the journeys he takes several times a week to Concord, where he gathers the latest gossip and meets with townsmen. On one of his journeys into Concord, Thoreau is detained and jailed for his refusal to pay a [[poll tax]] to the "state that buys and sells men, women, and children, like cattle at the door of its senate-house".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gradesaver.com/walden/study-guide/summary-chapters-7-9 |title=Walden Chapters 7–9 Summary and Analysis |publisher=GradeSaver |date=2000-09-30 |access-date=2024-04-15}}</ref>

[[File:Walden Pond, 2010.jpg|thumb|[[Walden Pond]], discussed extensively in chapter ''The Ponds'']]
'''''The Ponds:''''' In autumn, Thoreau discusses the countryside and writes down his observations about the geography of Walden Pond and its neighbors: Flint's Pond (or Sandy Pond), White Pond, and Goose Pond. Although Flint's Pond is the largest, Thoreau's favorites are Walden and White ponds, which he describes as lovelier than diamonds.

'''''Baker Farm:''''' While on an afternoon ramble in the woods, Thoreau gets caught in a rainstorm and takes shelter in the dirty, dismal hut of John Field, a penniless but hard-working Irish farmhand, and his wife and children. Thoreau urges Field to live a simple yet independent and fulfilling life in the woods, thereby freeing himself of employers and creditors. However, the Irishman will not give up his aspirations of luxury and the quest for the American dream.

'''''Higher Laws:''''' Thoreau discusses whether hunting wild animals and eating meat is necessary. He concludes that the primitive, carnal sensuality of humans drives them to kill and eat animals, and that a person who transcends this propensity is superior to those who cannot. (Thoreau eats fish and occasionally salt pork and woodchuck.)<ref name="Eserver.org"/> In addition to vegetarianism, he lauds chastity, work, and [[teetotalism]]. He also recognizes that Native Americans need to hunt and kill moose for survival in "The Maine Woods", and eats moose on a trip to Maine while he was living at Walden.<ref name="Eserver.org"/> Here is a list of the laws that he mentions:

* One must love that of the wild just as much as one loves that of the good.
* What men already know instinctively is true humanity.
* The hunter is the greatest friend of the animal which is hunted.
* No human older than an adolescent would wantonly murder any creature which reveres its own life as much as the killer.
* If the day and the night make one joyful, one is successful.
* The highest form of self-restraint is when one can subsist not on other animals, but of plants and crops cultivated from the earth.

'''''Brute Neighbors:''''' This chapter is a simplified version of one of Thoreau's conversations with [[William Ellery Channing (poet)|William Ellery Channing]], who sometimes accompanied Thoreau on fishing trips when Channing had come up from Concord. The conversation is about a hermit (Thoreau) and a poet (Channing) and how the poet is absorbed in the clouds while the hermit is occupied with the more practical task of getting fish for dinner and how in the end, the poet regrets his failure to catch fish. The chapter also mentions Thoreau's interaction with a mouse that he lives with, a scene in which an ant battles a smaller ant, and his frequent encounters with cats.

'''''House-Warming:''''' After picking November berries in the woods, Thoreau adds a chimney, and finally plasters the walls of his sturdy house to stave off the cold of the oncoming winter. He also lays in a good supply of firewood and expresses affection for wood and fire.

'''''Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors:''''' Thoreau tells the stories of people who formerly lived in the vicinity of Walden Pond. Then, he talks about a few of the visitors he receives during the winter: a farmer, a woodchopper, and his best friend, the poet [[Ellery Channing]].

'''''Winter Animals:''''' Thoreau amuses himself by watching wildlife during the winter. He relates his observations of owls, [[Snowshoe Hare|hare]]s, [[American Red Squirrel|red squirrel]]s, mice, and various birds as they hunt, sing, and eat the scraps and corn he put out for them. He also describes a [[fox hunt]] that passes by.

'''''The Pond in Winter:''''' Thoreau describes Walden Pond as it appears during the winter. He says he has sounded its depths and located an underground outlet. Then, he recounts how 100 laborers came to cut great blocks of ice from the pond to be shipped to the [[Carolinas]].

'''''Spring:''''' As spring arrives, Walden and the other ponds melt with powerful thundering and rumbling. Thoreau enjoys watching the thaw, and grows ecstatic as he witnesses the green rebirth of nature. He watches the geese winging their way north, and a hawk playing by itself in the sky. As nature is reborn, the narrator implies, so is he.

'''''Conclusion:''''' In the final chapter, Thoreau criticizes conformity: "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."<ref name="gutenberg">{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm#linkCONC |title=Walden, and on the Duty of Civil Disobedience |first1= Henry David |last1=Thoreau |publisher=Gutenberg |access-date=2014-05-03}}</ref> By doing so, men may find happiness and self-fulfillment.

{{blockquote|I do not say that John or Jonathan will realize all this; but such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.<ref name="gutenberg"/>}}

==Themes==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2016}}
[[File:Replica of Thoreau's cabin near Walden Pond and his statue.jpg|thumb|Memorial with a replica of Thoreau's cabin near Walden]]
[[Image:Site throeau cabin loc.jpg|thumb|The site of Thoreau's cabin marked by a [[cairn]] in 1908]]

{{blockquote|''Walden'' is a difficult book to read for three reasons: First, it was written in an older prose, which uses surgically precise language, extended, allegorical metaphors, long and complex paragraphs and sentences, and vivid, detailed, and insightful descriptions. Thoreau does not hesitate to use metaphors, allusions, understatement, hyperbole, personification, irony, satire, metonymy, synecdoche, and oxymorons, and he can shift from a scientific to a transcendental point of view in mid-sentence. Second, its logic is based on a different understanding of life, quite contrary to what most people would call common sense. Ironically, this logic is based on what most people say they believe. Thoreau, recognizing this, fills ''Walden'' with sarcasm, paradoxes, and double entendres. He likes to tease, challenge, and even fool his readers. And third, quite often any words would be inadequate at expressing many of Thoreau's non-verbal insights into truth. Thoreau must use non-literal language to express these notions, and the reader must reach out to understand.|[[Ken Kifer]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/ |title=Analysis and Notes on Walden – Henry Thoreau's Text with Adjacent Thoreauvian Commentary |access-date=2010-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318110150/http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/ |archive-date=March 18, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>}}

''Walden'' emphasizes the importance of solitude, contemplation, and closeness to nature in transcending the "desperate" existence that, he argues, is the lot of most people. The book is not a traditional autobiography, but combines autobiography with a social critique of contemporary Western culture's consumerist and materialist attitudes and its distance from and destruction of nature.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Peter Anto|date=April 2018|title=Perspectives of Civilization: New Beginnings After the End|journal=Digital Literature Review|volume=5|pages=17–23|doi=10.33043/DLR.5.0.17-23|doi-access=free |url=https://openjournals.bsu.edu/dlr/article/view/2693 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240826013820/https://openjournals.bsu.edu/dlr/article/download/2693/1613/4363 |archive-date= 2024-08-26}}</ref> Thoreau's proximity to Concord society and his admiration for classical literature suggest that the book is not simply a criticism of society, but also an attempt to engage creatively with the better aspects of contemporary culture. There are signs of ambiguity, or an attempt to see an alternative side of something common. Some of the major themes that are present within the text are:

* '''[[Self-sustainability|Self-reliance]]''': Thoreau constantly refuses to be in "need" of the companionship of others. Though he realizes its significance and importance, he thinks it unnecessary to ''always'' be in search for it. Self-reliance, to him, is economic and social and is a principle that in terms of financial and interpersonal relations is more valuable than anything. To Thoreau, self-reliance can be both spiritual as well as economic. Self-reliance was a key tenet of transcendentalism, famously expressed in Emerson's essay "[[Self-Reliance]]".
* '''[[Simplicity]]''': Simplicity seems to be Thoreau's model for life. Throughout the book, Thoreau constantly seeks to simplify his lifestyle: he patches his clothes rather than buy new ones, he minimizes his consumer activity, and relies on leisure time and on himself for everything.
* '''[[Progress]]''': In a world where everyone and everything is eager to advance in terms of progress, Thoreau finds it stubborn and skeptical to think that any outward improvement of life can bring inner peace and contentment.
* '''The need for [[Religious experience|spiritual awakening]]''': Spiritual awakening is the way to find and realize the truths of life which are often buried under the mounds of daily affairs. Thoreau holds the spiritual awakening to be a quintessential component of life. It is the source from which all of the other themes flow. 
* Man as part of nature
* Nature and its reflection of human emotions
* The state as unjust and corrupt
* '''[[Meditation]]''': Thoreau was an avid meditator and often spoke about the benefits of meditating.
*'''[[Patience]]''': Thoreau realizes that the methods he tries to employ at Walden Pond will not be instituted in the near future.<ref name=":0">Wood, Peter W. "Thoreau on ice". ''Claremont Review of Books'', vol. 14, no. 4, Fall 2014, p. 90+. Gale Literature Resource Center</ref> He does not like compromise, so he must wait for change to occur.<ref name=":0" /> He does not go into isolation in the woods of Massachusetts for over two years for his own benefit.<ref name=":0" /> Thoreau wants to transform the world around him, but understands that it will take time.<ref name=":0" />

== Style and analysis ==
''Walden'' has been the subject of many scholarly articles. Book reviewers, critics, scholars, and many more have published literature on Thoreau's ''Walden''.

Thoreau carefully recounts his time in the woods through his writing in ''Walden''. Critics have thoroughly analyzed the different writing styles that Thoreau uses. Critic Nicholas Bagnall writes that Thoreau's observations of nature are "lyrical" and "exact".<ref>Bagnall, Nicholas. "Walden." ''New Statesman'', vol. 126, no. 4363, 5 Dec. 1997, p. 57. Gale Literature Resource Center</ref> Another critic, Henry Golemba, asserts that the writing style of ''Walden'' is very natural.<ref name=":1">Golemba, Henry. "Unreading Thoreau". ''Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism'', edited by Kathy D. Darrow, vol. 207, 2009. Gale Literature Resource Center, Originally published in ''American Literature'', vol. 60, no. 3, Oct. 1988, pp. 385–401.</ref> Thoreau employs various styles of writing where his words are both intricate and simple at the same time.<ref name=":1" /> His word choice conveys a certain mood.<ref name=":1" /> For instance, when Thoreau describes the silence of nature, the reader may feel that serene moment as well.<ref name=":1" /> Thoreau continues to connect back to nature throughout the book because he wants to depict what he experienced and saw.<ref name=":1" />

Many scholars have compared Thoreau to fellow transcendentalist writer [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]. Although Emerson was 14 years his senior, much of Thoreau's writing was influenced by Emerson.<ref name=":2">Moore, John Brooks. "Thoreau Rejects Emerson". ''Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism'', edited by Kathy D. Darrow, vol. 207, 2009. Gale Literature Resource Center, Originally published in ''American Literature'', vol. 4, no. 3, Nov. 1932, pp. 241–256.</ref> Critic John Brooks Moore examined the relationship between Thoreau and Emerson and the effects it had on their respective works.<ref name=":2" /> Moore claims that Thoreau did not simply mimic Emerson's work, but he was actually the more dominant one in the relationship.<ref name=":2" /> Thoreau has learned from Emerson and some "Emersonism" can be found in his works, but Thoreau's work is distinct from Emerson's.<ref name=":2" /> Many critics have also seen the influence of [[Thomas Carlyle]] (a great influence on Emerson), particularly in Thoreau's use of an extended clothing metaphor, which Carlyle had used in ''[[Sartor Resartus]]'' (1831).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gravett |first=Sharon L. |date=1995 |title=Carlyle's Demanding Companion: Henry David Thoreau |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44946086 |journal=Carlyle Studies Annual |publisher=Saint Joseph's University Press |issue=15 |pages=21–31 |jstor=44946086 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

Scholars have recognized ''Walden''{{'s}} use of biblical allusions.<ref name=":3">Saunders, Judith P. "Thoreau's Walden". ''The Explicator'' 58.3 (2000): 138–140.</ref> Such allusions are useful tools to convince readers because the [[Bible]] is seen as a principal book of truth.<ref name=":3" />{{Dubious|date=November 2021}} According to scholar Judith Saunders, the signature biblical allusion identified in the book is, "Walden was dead and is alive again."<ref name=":3" /> This is almost verbatim from [[Parable of the Prodigal Son|Luke 15.11–32]].<ref name=":3" /> Thoreau is personifying Walden Pond to further the story relevant to the Bible.<ref name=":3" /> He compares the process of death and rebirth of the pond to self-transformation in humans.<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Thoreau quote sign next to original cabin cairn, 2022.jpg|thumb|Sign with Thoreau quotation next to site of cabin, 2022]]

==Reception==
[[File:Site of Thoreau's cabin.JPG|thumb|Site of Thoreau's cabin, 2010]]
[[File:Thoreau and Walden Streets in Concord, Mass.JPG|thumb|Street names in [[Concord, Massachusetts]], named after Thoreau]]

''Walden'' enjoyed some success upon its release, but still took five years to sell 2,000 copies,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/593225/Henry-David-Thoreau/7234/Works |title=Henry David Thoreau (American writer): Works |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |date=2013-04-18 |access-date=2014-05-03}}</ref> and then went out of print until Thoreau's death in 1862.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dean|first1=Bradley P.|last2=Scharnhorst|first2=Gary|title=The Contemporary Reception of ''Walden''|journal=Studies in the American Renaissance|date=1990|pages=293–328}}</ref> Despite its slow beginnings, later critics have praised it as an American classic that explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty. The American poet, [[Robert Frost]], wrote of Thoreau, "In one book ... he surpasses everything we have had in America".<ref>[[Robert Frost|Frost, Robert]]. "Letter to Wade Van Dore", (June 24, 1922), in ''Twentieth Century Interpretations of Walden'', ed. Richard Ruland. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: [[Prentice Hall, Inc]]. (1968), 8. {{LCCN|6814480}}.</ref>

It is often assumed that critics initially ignored ''Walden'', and that those who reviewed the book were evenly split or slightly more negative than positive in their assessment of it. But, researchers have shown that ''Walden'' actually was "more favorably and widely received by Thoreau's contemporaries than hitherto suspected".<ref name="Dean and Scharnhorst 293">Dean and Scharnhorst 293.</ref> Of the 66 initial reviews that have been found so far, 46 "were strongly favorable".<ref name="Dean and Scharnhorst 293"/> Some reviews were rather superficial, merely recommending the book or predicting its success with the public; others were more lengthy, detailed, and nuanced with both positive and negative comments. Positive comments included praise for Thoreau's independence, practicality, wisdom, "manly simplicity",<ref>Dean and Scharnhorst 302.</ref> and fearlessness. Less than three weeks after the book's publication, Thoreau's mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, proclaimed, "All American kind are delighted with ''Walden'' as far as they have dared to say."<ref>Quoted in Dean and Scharnhorst 293, from Ralph L. Rusk (ed.), ''The Letters from Ralph Waldo Emerson'' (vol. 4), (New York:  Columbia University Press, 1939) pp. 459–60.</ref>

On the other hand, the terms "quaint" or "eccentric" appeared in over half of the book's initial reviews.<ref name="Dean and Scharnhorst 293"/> Other terms critical of Thoreau included selfish, strange, impractical, privileged (or "manor born"<ref>Dean and Scharnhorst 300.</ref>), and misanthropic.<ref>Dean and Scharnhorst 293–328.</ref> One review compared and contrasted Thoreau's form of living to [[communism]], probably not in the sense of [[Marxism]], but instead of [[intentional community|communal living]] or [[religious communism]]. While valuing freedom from possessions, Thoreau was not communal in the sense of practicing sharing or of embracing community. So, communism "is better than our hermit's method of getting rid of encumbrance".<ref>Dean and Scharnhorst 298.</ref>

In contrast to Thoreau's "manly simplicity", nearly twenty years after Thoreau's death Scottish author [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] judged Thoreau's endorsement of living alone in natural simplicity, apart from modern society, to be a mark of effeminacy, calling it "womanish solicitude; for there is something unmanly, something almost dastardly" about the lifestyle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thoreau.eserver.org/stevens1.html |title=Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions |work=[[Cornhill Magazine]] |date=June 1880 |access-date=May 29, 2008 |archive-date=October 12, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012063926/http://thoreau.eserver.org/stevens1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier]] criticized what he perceived as the message in ''Walden'' that man should lower himself to the level of a [[woodchuck]] and walk on four legs. He said: "Thoreau's ''Walden'' is a capital reading, but very wicked and heathenish ... After all, for me, I prefer walking on two legs".<ref>[[Wagenknecht, Edward]]. ''John Greenleaf Whittier: A Portrait in Paradox''. New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1967: 112.</ref> Author [[Edward Abbey]] criticized Thoreau's ideas and experiences at Walden in detail throughout his response to ''Walden'' called "Down the River with Thoreau", written in 1980.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Abbey|first1=Edward|title=Down the River with Thoreau|date=1980}}</ref>

Today, despite these criticisms, ''Walden'' stands as one of America's most celebrated works of literature. [[John Updike]] wrote of ''Walden'', "A century and a half after its publication, ''Walden'' has become such a totem of the back-to-nature, preservationist, anti-business, civil-disobedience mindset, and Thoreau so vivid a protester, so perfect a crank and hermit saint, that the book risks being as revered and unread as the Bible."<ref>John Updike, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/26/classics "A Sage for all seasons"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', June 25, 2004</ref> The American psychologist [[B. F. Skinner]] wrote that he carried a copy of ''Walden'' with him in his youth,<ref>Skinner, B. F. ''A Matter of Consequences''. 1938</ref> and eventually wrote ''[[Walden Two]]'' in 1945, a fictional utopia about 1,000 members who live together in a Thoreau-inspired community.<ref>Skinner, B. F. ''Walden 2''. 1942</ref>

[[Kathryn Schulz]] has accused Thoreau of [[hypocrisy]], misanthropy and being sanctimonious based on his writings in ''Walden'',<ref name=neworker1>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum|title=Henry David Thoreau, Hypocrite|last1= Schulz|first1= Kathryn|date=October 19, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date= October 19, 2015}}</ref> although this criticism has been perceived as highly selective.<ref name=newrepublic>{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/123151/defense-thoreau |title=Henry David Thoreau's Radical Optimism |first1=Jonathan |last1=Malesic |date=October 19, 2015 |magazine=New Republic |access-date=October 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019204535/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123151/defense-thoreau |archive-date=October 19, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=newrepublic2>{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/123162/everybody-hates-henry-david-thoreau |title=Everybody Hates Henry |first1=Donovan |last1=Hohn |date=October 21, 2015 |magazine=New Republic |access-date=October 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026134755/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123162/everybody-hates-henry-david-thoreau |archive-date=October 26, 2015 }}</ref>

==Adaptations==
===Video games===
The [[National Endowment for the Arts]] in 2012 bestowed [[Tracy Fullerton]], game designer and professor at the [[University of Southern California]]'s [[Game Innovation Lab]], with a $40,000 grant to create, based on the book, a first person, open world video game called ''[[Walden, a game]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waldengame.com/ |title=Home |website=waldengame.com}}</ref>  in which players "inhabit an open, three-dimensional game world that will simulate the geography and environment of Walden Woods".<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|last=Flood|first=Alison|title=Walden Woods video game will recreate the world of Thoreau|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/26/walden-woods-game-world-thoreau|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=April 26, 2012|date=April 26, 2012}}</ref> The game production was also supported by grants from the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] and was part of the Sundance New Frontier Story Lab in 2014. The game was released to critical acclaim on July 4, 2017, celebrating both the day that Thoreau went down to the pond to begin his experiment and the 200th anniversary of Thoreau's birth.  It was nominated for the Off-Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards 2018.<ref>{{cite web|last=Whitney|first=Kayla|title=Complete list of winners of the New York Game Awards 2018|url=https://www.axs.com/complete-list-of-winners-of-the-new-york-game-awards-2018-127527|publisher=[[AXS (company)|AXS]]|date=January 25, 2018|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref>

===Digitization and scholarship efforts===
Digital Thoreau,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalthoreau.org/ |title=digitalthoreau.org |publisher=digitalthoreau.org |date=2013-07-18 |access-date=2014-05-03 |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122150828/https://digitalthoreau.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>  a collaboration among the [[State University of New York at Geneseo]], the [[Thoreau Society]], and the [[Walden Woods Project]], has developed a fluid text edition of ''Walden''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalthoreau.org/fluid-text/|title=Walden: a Fluid Text Edition|date=April 4, 2016|access-date=October 20, 2014|archive-date=April 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407153908/http://www.digitalthoreau.org/fluid-text/|url-status=dead}}</ref> across the different versions of the work to help readers trace the evolution of Thoreau's classic work across seven stages of revision from 1846 to 1854.  Within any chapter of ''Walden'', readers can compare up to seven manuscript versions with each other, with the Princeton University Press edition,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/2048.html |title=Thoreau, H.D.; Shanley, J.L., ed.: The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Walden. (Hardcover) |publisher=Press.princeton.edu |date=2014 |isbn=9780691061948 |access-date=2014-05-03}}</ref> and consult critical notes drawn from Thoreau scholars, including Ronald Clapper's dissertation ''The Development of Walden: A Genetic Text''<ref>{{cite book|title=The development of Walden: a genetic text. (Book, 1968) |publisher=[WorldCat.org] |date=1999-02-22 |oclc = 1166552}}</ref> (1967) and Walter Harding's ''Walden: An Annotated Edition''<ref>{{cite book|title=Walden : an annotated edition (Book, 1995) |publisher=[WorldCat.org] |date=2012-05-08 |oclc = 31709850}}</ref> (1995). Ultimately, the project will provide a space for readers to discuss Thoreau in the margins of his texts.

===Influence===

{{in popular culture|date=April 2024}}
* The Dutch writer and psychiatrist [[Frederik van Eeden]] used the ideas from this book to create his own vision, back to the nature, at the commune Walden in the [[Netherlands]] in 1898.
* In the 1948 book ''[[Walden Two]]'' by behavioral psychologist [[B. F. Skinner]] the experimental Walden Two Community is mentioned as having the benefits of living in a place like Thoreau's Walden, but "with company".
* [[Jonas Mekas]]' 1968 film ''[[Walden (1968 film)|Walden]]'' is loosely inspired by the book.
* The film [[All That Heaven Allows]] (1955) is clearly influenced by Thoreau, with the protagonist Cary Scott ([[Jane Wyman]]) reading lines from Walden.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IMDB All That Heaven Allows quotes |website=[[IMDb]] |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047811/quotes/ |access-date=}}</ref>  
* [[Jean Craighead George]]'s ''[[My Side of the Mountain]]'' trilogy (1959) draws heavily from themes expressed in ''Walden''. Protagonist Sam Gribley is nicknamed "Thoreau" by an English teacher he befriends.
* [[Shane Carruth]]'s second film ''[[Upstream Color]]'' (2013) features ''Walden'' as a central item of its story, and draws heavily on the themes expressed by Thoreau.
* In 1962, [[William Melvin Kelley]] titled his first novel, ''[[A Different Drummer (novel)|A Different Drummer]]'', after a famous quote from ''Walden'': "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." The quote, as well as another stanza from the book, appears as an epigraph in Kelley's novel, which echoes Thoreau's theme of individualism.
* The name of the gay men's culture and news magazine ''[[Drum (American magazine)|Drum]]'', which began publication in 1964, was inspired by the same quote, which appeared in every edition.<ref>Streitmatter, Rodger (1995). ''Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America.'' Boston, Faber and Faber. {{ISBN|0-571-19873-2}}, p. 60</ref>
* The 1989 film ''[[Dead Poets Society]]'' heavily features an excerpt from ''Walden'' as a motif in the plot.
* The Finnish symphonic metal band [[Nightwish]] paraphrased the quote "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth" on their 2011 song "[[The Crow, the Owl and the Dove]]" from the studio album ''[[Imaginaerum]]''. They also make several references to ''Walden'' on their eighth studio album ''[[Endless Forms Most Beautiful (album)|Endless Forms Most Beautiful]]'' of 2015, including in the song titled "My Walden" and in the song "Alpenglow".
* The investment research firm [[Morningstar, Inc.]] was named for the last sentence in ''Walden'' by founder and CEO [[Joe Mansueto]], and the "O" in the company's logo is shaped like a rising sun.
* In the 2015 video game ''[[Fallout 4]]'', which takes place in Massachusetts, there exists a location called Walden Pond, where the player can listen to an automated tourist guide detail Thoreau's experience living in the wilderness. At the location there stands a small house which is said to be the same house Thoreau built and stayed in.
* [[Phoebe Bridgers]] references the book in her song "Smoke Signals".
* In 2018, MC Lars and Mega Ran released a song called "Walden" where they discuss the book and its influence.
* In the 1997 episode "[[Weight Gain 4000]]" of ''[[South Park]]'', [[Eric Cartman]] "writes" a prize-winning essay copied from ''Walden'', replacing Thoreau's name with his own.
* Professor [[Richard Primack]] from [[Boston University]] utilizes information from Thoreau's ''Walden'' in [[climate change]] research.<ref>Wulf, Andrea. "A Man for All Seasons." ''The New York Times Book Review'', 21 Apr. 2013, p. 30(L). Gale Literature Resource Center</ref>
* It is suggested that the genre of [[nature writing]] in [[American literature]] is derived from Thoreau's ''Walden''.<ref>"Ecocriticism and Nineteenth-Century Literature." ''Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism'', edited by Russel Whitaker, vol. 140, 2004. Gale Literature Resource Center</ref>
* Austin Chinn, editor of the trilogy version of [[Ring of Bright Water]] by [[Gavin Maxwell]], suggests that Maxwell may have been influenced by Walden when writing the best-seller.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chinn|first1=Austin|title=Introduction to Ring of Bright Water: A Trilogy|location=London|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-0-670-88992-1|date=2000|pages=xvii}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047811/quotes/ |title=All That Heaven Allows (1955) - Quotes - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-04-22 |via=www.imdb.com}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Walden, or, Life in the Woods|''Walden, or, Life in the Woods''}}
{{Commons category|Walden}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{gutenberg|no=205|name=Walden}}
* [https://archive.org/details/waldenorlifeinwo1854thor ''Walden''] – Digitized copy of the first edition from the [[Internet Archive]].
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/henry-david-thoreau/walden}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Walden (book) |short=x}}
* {{Librivox book | title=Walden | author=Henry David Thoreau}}
* ''[http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html Walden: An Annotated Edition]'' (hyperlinked [[table of contents|TOC]], footnotes and scholarly commentary). R. Lenat (ed.). [[Thoreau Society]] and [[Iowa State University]] project.

{{Henry David Thoreau| state=expanded}}
{{Simple living}}
{{Authority control}}

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