Springtime At Walden Pond Analysis

Henry David Thoreau was an American author who in addition to being a poet, naturalist and abolitionist was one of the leading transcendentalists. Like Emerson and other transcendentalist Thoreau concerned himself with self-reliance, individualism and the purity of nature. Thoreau decision to move to Walden Pond is a culmination of his transcendentalist ideals. He chose to live in simplicity and sounded by the natural world which he found to be incredibly stimulating. His time spent at Walden lead to his publishing of a book summarizing his time spent at Walden Pond and the revelations he made about spiritual rebirth, living deliberately and self-reliance. Walden was first published in 1854 and recounts his thoughts on the two years he spent …show more content…
Thoreau’s descriptions of springtime at Walden Pond highlight those ideas of new beginnings that spring has already brought up. Walden starts at the beginning of a metaphorical journey of spirituality with the building of a home on Walden Pond. Thoreau’s first mentions of Walden Pond are about his building of a cabin in which he will reside in solitude. While discussing this he remarks “ the ice in the pond was not yet dissolved,” (Walden 52) giving us the illusion that winter is over and spring is about to take place. The choice to start his story and journey at the emerging of spring is symbolic of the spiritual rebirth that he is about to go through. We are given the illusion of his spiritual awakening and rebirth through not only his choices of when to start his journey but through Thoreau’s musings as well. Thoreau himself makes the connection between the movement into spring and his own spiritual awakening. Thoreau states “They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of man 's discontent was thawing itself as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid, began to stretch itself." (Walden 52) Thoreau as a transcendentalist makes important connections between nature and spirit and the idea of finding one’s spirituality through nature. Thoreau’s use of the word “torpid” suggests a state of inactivity and lethargy and his reference to “man’s discontent” suggest a beginning state of dissatisfaction with one’s state of being. Thoreau’s use of the word “thawing” and “winter” aligns the idea of spiritual unrest with the season of winter and is further driven home by his mention of pleasant spring days and the changes they bring. In Walden Thoreau is remarking about the days of spring and the changes and transformations they bring to man’s state of spiritual inactivity and