Why Was Henry David Thoreau Such A Wonderful Writer?

Why was Henry David Thoreau such a wonderful writer?

He 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. Henry David 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 essentials of reality and of experiences that would bring him close to these essentials. 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(1849). Here, he also filled his journals with materials for his most

His nearest neighbor was at least a mile away. While he was living independently in the woods, he thought of many new ideas for his literature. Thoreau even tried to encourage others to assert their individuality, each in his or her own way. He also believed that independent, well-considered actions arose naturally from a questing attitude of mind. He was first and foremost an explorer, of both the world around him and the world within him. In his most popular piece ever, Walden, he stated this: "Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought,"(Walden, p. 321).

Also, Thoreau's celebration of solitude was a natural outgrowth of his commitment to the idea of individual action. This following idea also brought up a point in

Walden. "The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready,"(Walden, pg.72) Many of Thoreau's ideas of individualism can be found as major statements in his writing. Thoreau came to much of his great literature due to the amount of experiences he had throughout his life.

Thoreau even stated himself, "I learned this, at least, from experience." Here, he was talking about how he got all the information for his book Walden totally from experiences. Although Walden was only moderately successful in Thoreau's lifetime, his experiment in the wilderness did spark interest in young people. The book inspired people to follow his example and go to a lonely spot and wonder the world and find their place in it. For many, Walden served as a touchstone. Thoreau said that he went to the pond to write a book in memory of his brother, John, who had died three years earlier. Thoreau also stated, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived (Walden p. 90).

At Walden Pond, Thoreau worked on A Week, but he also became attracted to the Walden Woods and began making observations in his journal of them. He also began collecting materials to write lectures. By the time he left

Walden Pond, Thoreau had combined lectures and notes from his journal to compile into his first draft of his book A

Week. A Week was not very well excepted by the