​Henry David Thoreau Brief Biography

Original title page of "Walden"

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts.  He graduated from Harvard College in 1837.  Over the next eight years he worked alternately as a teacher and for his father’s pencil factory. During this period a friendship with fellow Harvard graduate and Concord resident Ralph Waldo Emerson began and soon evolved into a mentoring of Thoreau’s literary interests.
 
Emerson introduced Thoreau to transcendentalism and many of the movement’s key intellectuals.  It was Emerson who granted Thoreau access to land at Walden Pond.  It was there Thoreau built a cabin and embarked on his famous introspective experiment in simple living and connection with nature.  The venture would prove historic.  He began, among other things, writing Walden, which when first published received only modest success.  Over time, however, it would become revered as one of the classics in American literature and prove foundational to the American environmental movement.
 
Thoreau was also an ardent abolitionist.  While at Walden he refused to pay overdue poll taxes, believing the Mexican-American War would result in the expansion of slavery.  He spent one night in jail, an experience that provided the inspiration for his essay Resistance to Civil Government.  The Essay would have a profound influence on actors of civil disobedience including Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rachel Carson to name a few.

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