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Summary
Walden Study Guide |
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Summary
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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
Writer's Lodge. Thoreau's original purpose in going to live in the woods was not to undergo an experiment in simple living but to concentrate on his writing—in particular his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Ellery Channing, Transcendentalist poet and friend of Thoreau, advised him, "Go out upon that, build yourself a hut, & there begin the grand process of devouring yourself alive. I see no other alternative, no other hope for you."