Walden

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

10 Transcendental Poems

• excerpts of transcendental poems written by 19th, 20th and 21st century poets
• brief descriptions of how each poem excerpt demonstrates elements of transcendental thought and poetic methods

The Dial Magazine

• online archive of each edition of The Dial, a transcendentalist magazine to which Thoreau contributed several poems and essays
• free e-books feature a digitalized format of each edition of the magazine

The Poets of Transcendentalism

• 186 poems written by 42 major and minor transcendentalist authors
• includes 8 poems written by Thoreau

American Transcendentalism in Contemporary Literature

• journal article that examines how 19th century American transcendentalist doctrines are present in two contemporary literary texts—Into the Wild by John Krakauer (1996) and Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller (2015)
• compares these contemporary texts to Walden

Thoreau and Ecocriticism

• journal article that provides a literature review of the concept of ecocriticism and how it combines the study of literature and the environment
• explores how Walden exemplifies the principles of ecocriticism and how the text can be used to advance the work of ecocriticism and environmental stewardship