The first time I ever heard of Henry David Thoreau was in watching Dead Poet’s Society in my English class during my junior year of high school. Later that year, our class read parts of Walden, his most famous book. I was awed by his insight and ability to write so detailed. Ever since then, I have been hooked on Thoreau. Henry David Thoreau had many great qualities, but the most important were his devotion to nature and writing, his desire for independence, and his experiences he encountered throughout his life. Not only was his writing the perfect example of what nature writing is, his writing influenced other writers as well. Thoreau looked to nature as the basis of life and writing. He believed that nature is the reflection of inner spiritual reality. He spent his life in search of the truths of reality and of experiences that would bring him close to the essentials of life. He lived in a hut for two years at Walden Pond to rid his body of inessential things. During Thoreau's stay, he completed his first book titled, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Here, he also filled his journals with materials for his most famous piece, Walden. Thoreau began collecting materials to write lectures. By the time he left Walden Pond, Thoreau had combined lectures and notes from his journal, which he also later published, to compile into his first draft of his book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. It was not very well excepted by the public. After the failure of the book, publishers postponed the publication of Walden. Eventually, Walden was published and was moderately successful, and it did make Thoreau popular. After he left the hut, and after college, he became a literary apprentice by writing essays and poems and by helping edit the transcendentalist journal, The Dial. When success did not come, Thoreau remained dedicated to his life of intimacy with nature, and also the writing that would express this exp...
