Introduction to Henry David Thoreau�January 20, 2026

1

The Backstory: Who is Henry David Thoreau?

2

• 1817: born in Concord, Massachusetts
• 1837: graduates from Harvard
• 1838: starts his own school in Concord
• 1841: returns to work in pencil factory; invited to work in the home of Emerson
• July 1845 – September 1847: experiment at Walden pond
• 1846: night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax in protest of slavery
• 1849: publication of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
• 1854: publication of Walden
• May 1862: dies in Concord

Harvard College, 1836

3

Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1954)

• An anti-establishment manifesto? A program of austerity and self-sufficiency? A testament to American individualism? A founding text of environmental thought? A critical ethnography of Concord everyday life? All of the above?
• What kind of relationship with his readers does Thoreau set up? What kind of effects did Thoreau hope to have on his readers?
• And who did he hope would read his book? Who is the intended audience? The townspeople in Concord? American farmers and businessmen? Consumer society at large? Thoreau himself?

4

Who is Thoreau’s Audience?

• “I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent. Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I was not afraid; and the like... I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these questions in this book. In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were any body else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives…Perhaps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits”(3-4)

Who is Thoreau’s Audience?

• “The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of any thing, it is very likely to be my good behavior” (10-11)
• “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation”(8)
• “I do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures, who will mind their own affairs whether in heaven or hell, and perchance build more magnificently and spend more lavishly than the richest, without ever impoverishing themselves, not knowing how they live…I do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever circumstances, and they know whether they are well employed or not;— but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented, and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times, when they might improve them” (16)
• “I would gladly tell all that I know …and never paint "No Admittance" on my gate” (17)

6