Walden by Henry David Thoreau | Chapter 1

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Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Chapter 1 of Henry David Thoreau's essay collection Walden.

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Henry David Thoreau's essay Walden details his two-year stint at the titular pond, during which he attempts to connect with nature and with himself.

Building a cabin and raising crops on land belonging to his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, he cultivates a relationship with the surrounding environment.

Living mostly in solitude for two years, he ingests volumes of philosophy and meditates on the landscape and the flora and fauna that inhabit it. Though he catalogues his observations in dispassionate fashion, his adoration of the phenomena he observes is clear.

The book ends with two famous and beautifully optimistic sentences: "There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

American writer Henry David Thoreau's essay Walden was first published in 1854. Using a borrowed axe, Thoreau constructed a small cottage near Concord's Walden Pond. The solitude and natural setting provided a perfect backdrop for serious writing. Thoreau carried out his quest to live as simply and mindfully as possible. Walden is perhaps one of the most important works of the Transcendentalist movement, which sought the divine in experiences of the natural world.

The philosophical essay Walden contains many important themes, including nature, as closely observing nature, Thoreau argues, is key to the best education; self-improvement, as meditation allows us to "elevate our lives" and understand our place in the universe; self-reliance, as living independently helps us break free from the expectations and conventions of traditional society; and minimalism, as detaching ourselves from a goal-driven, materialistic worldview is the path to genuine happiness. Important motifs include the four seasons, woodland creatures, and the great thinkers.

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