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Last edited by bitnapper
December 20, 2025 | History
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Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore; while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time imploring one to abandon waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.

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Photo of Henry David Thoreau

American essayist, poet, and philosopher (1817–1862)

Born 12 July 1817
Died 6 May 1862

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Photo of Henry David Thoreau

American essayist, poet, and philosopher (1817–1862)

Born 12 July 1817
Died 6 May 1862

Subjects

Thoreau, henry david, 1817-1862, American Authors, Natural history, Wilderness areas, Solitude, Civil disobedience, Biography, Description and travel, Social life and customs, Authors, american, Natural history, united states, Nature, Homes and haunts, Authors, biography, Quotations, Resistance to Government, Massachusetts, social life and customs, American literature, Correspondence, Philosophy, Quotations, maxims, Travel, Diaries, Philosophy, american, Naturalists

Places

Massachusetts, Walden Woods (Mass.), Walden Woods, United States, New England, Cape Cod (Mass.), Concord River (Mass.), Cape Cod, Merrimack River (N.H. and Mass.), Maine, Piscataquis County (Me.), Concord, Québec (Province), Alabama, Owl Creek Bridge, Canada, Concord River, Minnesota, Andover, Barbados, China, Eastern Europe, England, Florida, Fountain of Youth

People

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), John Brown (1800-1859), Peyton Farquhar, Devil, Elizabeth, Mr. Hooper, Abigail Williams, Amanda Wingfield, Ann Putnam, Arthur Miller (1915-), Betty Parris, Brently Mallard, Bridget Bishop, Colonel Killigrew, Dr. Heidegger, Elizabeth Proctor, Ezekiel Cheever, George Herrick, George Jacobs, Giles Corey, God, Jim O'Connor, John Hale, John Hathorne, John Proctor

Time

19th century, 1861-1865, 1861-65, 19e siècle, American Civil War, 1692, 1837-1861, 1844-1860, Civil War, 1861-1865, Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775, 1600s, 1764-1850, 1783-1865, 1800-1900, 1843-1863, 1849-1860, 1854, 1927, A trip with his brother on 1839, Civil War, December, Jin dai, Siglo XIX, carnival

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Alternative names

  • Henry D. Thoreau
  • Henry Thoreau
  • (mei) Suoluo
  • Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862.
  • Henry D.Thoreau
  • Henry David. Thoreau

History

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December 20, 2025 Edited by bitnapper merge authors
September 28, 2025 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten merge authors
July 31, 2025 Edited by WikidataBot [sync_author_identifiers_with_wikidata] add wikidata remote identifiers
June 24, 2025 Edited by Gustav-Landauer-Bibliothek Witten add IDs
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user initial import