Walden (1854) is Henry David Thoreau‘s seminal presentment — presented to America as an act, shot with roaring, vandal pride, of resistance, renewel, and (ultimately) the free and untimely life, “lived well.” This novel, strewn over four psuedo-fictional seasons, recounts Henry’s eight seasons (specifically, 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days) on the wooded shores of Walden Pond, Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.

Walden, progenitor, popularizer, and pedestaled ideal of voluntary simplicity, is lushly mirrored through the “back to the land”-style homesteading movements of the late 1960s, 1970s, and 2000s.

Arrangement

Chapter 1: Economy is Walden‘s longest chapter. Raiazome partitions it, for readable convenience, into several parts — as Henry, himself, parted it. (Their names, however, are ours; in print, publishers lined those sections with nameless, “* * *”- and “—”-styled hard breaks.)

Enough! On with the frayed gold.

Prelude

• Front Matter.

Contents

1. Economy.
   1. Lives of Quiet Desperation.
   2. Necessary of Life.
   3. A Hound, A Bay Horse, and a Turtledove.
   4. As for Clothing.
   5. As for Shelter.
   6. But Two Hours' Work.
   7. Modern Improvements.
   8. Simplicity and Independence.
   9. When a Man Dies He Kicks the Dust.
   10. Furniture!
   11. As for Doing-good.
   12. Complemental Verses.
2. Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.
3. Reading.
4. Sounds.
5. Solitude.
6. Visitors.
7. The Bean-Field.
8. The Village.
9. The Ponds.
10. Baker Farm.
11. Higher Laws.
12. Brute Neighbors.
13. House Warming.
14. Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors.
15. Winter Animals.
16. The Pond in Winter.
17. Spring.
18. Conclusion

Sources

Raiazome sourced the plaintext for this transcription from a mewling gut of other online sources. In no decent order, these are:

• Peter Batke‘s Walden.
• Literature Page‘s Walden.
• The Thoreau Reader‘s Walden. (Annotated.)
• University of Virginia Library‘s Walden. (Commercial use prohibited.)

Copyright

Walden is in the public domain — that is, no longer under copyright. Copy these pages, and contents, at free and puissant will.