Walden, a reflection upon simple living in…

Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings published in 1854 by Henry David Thoreau, describes Transcendentalism amid his simple life in nature.

One of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American, it details Thoreau's sojourn in a cabin near Walden Pond, amid woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts.

Thoreau lived at Walden for two years, two months, and two days, but Walden was written so that the stay appears to be a year, with expressed seasonal divisions.

Thoreau did not intend to live as a hermit, for he received visitors and returned their visits.

Instead, he hoped to isolate himself from society in order to gain a more objective understanding of it.

Simplicity and self-reliance were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project had been inspired by Transcendentalist philosophy.