On a recent roadtrip, I listened to a biography of Thoreau by Laura Dassow Walls. As she recounts his survey of Walden Pond in 1846, the deepest pond in Massachusetts, I draw connections to his love of the deep.
The Deepness of Thoreau’s Walden
Two Experiments: Walden and Hospital Sketches
Although Walden by Henry David Thoreau has fascinated me for years, Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches is new to me. Obviously, many people know Alcott, another prominent writer from Concord, for Little Women. This past year my daughter read the book for the first time, which is much more than I can boast, but I’ve …
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A. L. Burt Company’s Walden
In this week's blog post, I share the details of an early edition of Thoreau's Walden published by the Burt Company, examining the "story" told by both its title page and frontispiece.
Transcendentalism and the Problem of Misquotation
Above one of the classroom doors in my high school, there’s a well-known quote credited to Thoreau that so many of us have heard over the years: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagine.” No doubt, it’s a beautiful sentiment. And yet every time I pass that classroom, I …
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The Curious Case of Thoreau’s Bean Field
Gardening is a strange pleasure. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau describes his experience in the bean field as a “small Herculean labor” and a long battle, the Trojans taking the form of worms, weeds, and woodchucks. For a weapon, he recounts leveling his enemy with his long-handled hoe, turning dirt and dust over the weeds …
The White Whale 