During his life, Henry David Thoreau was largely seen as a minor player in the American Romantic movement. With time and perspective, critics and readers alike now view the writer as a major figure and a practitioner of American Romantic beliefs and Transcendental philosophies. Thoreau took seriously the ideals of Romanticism and lived them with youthful idealism, writing public letters to protest social ills and living simply without imposing upon others. As a matter of practice, the writer minded his own business, considering civil and social matters to be personal.
Walden is the Thoreau’s autobiographical narrative detailing his experiment at Walden Pond, a plot of land on larger...