The author of this book is Henry David Thoreau (American). He is an American writer, philosopher, representative of transcendentalism, and an abolitionist and naturalist. ists. Thoreau graduated from Harvard University and assisted Emerson in editing the quarterly review "The Sundial." His thoughts were deeply influenced by Emerson, and he advocated returning to one's heart and getting closer to nature.

In 1845, Thoreau lived in seclusion on the shores of Walden Pond, two miles away from Concord, for two years. He farmed his own food and experienced a simple and close-to-nature life. He wrote a long prose "Walden Pond" based on this theme. "Walking on the Lake" (also translated as "Lakeside Essays") has become a classic work of transcendentalism and is recognized as the most popular non-fiction work among readers in American literature.

The purpose of purchasing and reading this book is to solve the following problems:

In 1854, Thoreau published "Walden". At the age of fifty-two, Emerson was already a poet, essayist, and thinker renowned on both sides of the Atlantic. As a well-deserved leader in the literary world, after seeing "Walden", Emerson humbly complimented Thoreau, who had been following him for twelve years, as "the lion king of America". Why is this? This starts with the historical process and social environment in which they live.

Complementing this growing national strength and national consciousness is the "still immature" American literature. Although the United States during the colonial period produced books with far-reaching influence on later generations such as "Poor Richard's Almanac", "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" and "Common Sense", they were generally lackluster.

The first generation of writers born after independence began to appear around 1810, the most outstanding of whom include Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, and James Fenimore Cooper; Although the works of these people are very popular, they are essentially the same as British literature. For example:

Since the 1830s, American literature has begun to part ways with British literature and embarked on a completely different path. road. On August 31, 1837, Emerson delivered his famous speech "American Scholars". He criticized the tendency of the American intelligentsia to follow Europe at that time, and loudly called for the "Declaration of Independence of the American Intellectuals": We must use our own two We have to use our legs to walk; we have to use our hands to work; we have to speak our thoughts.

This cultural independence movement bore its first fruitful fruits on the eve of the Civil War. Before the publication of "Walden", American literature had already ushered in its explosive period. In just a few years, several classics that could join the world of literature emerged:

Despite these gems, Love Merson and his friends - including Hawthorne, Melville, William Ellery Channing, Amos Bronson Alcott and other important figures in the history of American literature - still regard the highest Praise is dedicated to Thoreau, mainly because "Walden" published in 1854 has several unprecedented characteristics and presents a unique American style:

The "transcendentalism" mentioned here " is a philosophical movement that emerged in New England in the 1830s. Its main figures include Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Amos Bronson Alkert and others. .

The core view of transcendentalism is that people can transcend feelings and reason and directly know the truth, emphasizing the importance of intuition. It believes that everything in the human world is a microcosm of the universe. "Believe in thyself," Emerson's famous saying became the motto of the Transcendentalists. This transcendentalist view emphasizes human subjective initiative, helps break the shackles of Calvinist dogmas such as "human nature is evil" and "predestination", and lays the ideological foundation for romantic literature that is passionate and expresses individuality. Later, with the birth of practical philosophy, transcendentalism gradually faded away.

The basic theory of transcendentalism can be summarized into the following three assumptions:

In other words, Thoreau’s exploration of nature is not intended to obtain objective knowledge, but to Return to your own spirituality.

Thoreau was greatly inspired by a conversation with Emerson, and he immediately began to practice a practice that would greatly help him in his future creations - taking notes. He persisted for twenty-four years.

In fact, the most direct reason why Thoreau moved to Walden Pond was that he needed a quiet environment in order to complete a long-conceived work in memory of his deceased brother John.

John was born in 1815. He and Thoreau were only two years apart, and they had a very deep relationship with each other. When John was president of Concord College, Thoreau served as a classics classroom teacher, and they worked together for more than three years. By 1841, John was suffering from tuberculosis, his health was getting worse, and he died in 1942.

John's death caused great mental trauma to Thoreau. He could never forget the brotherhood and thought of expressing his condolences through writing. However, due to various complicated chores, this wish was delayed. Unable to achieve. In fact, after John's death, Thoreau's notes were interrupted for more than three years and were not resumed until July 5, 1845. This is enough to prove that his sad mood, complicated affairs and noisy environment affected his reading and reading. creation.

Because life was not comfortable, Thoreau gradually came up with the idea of ????moving away from Concord. At the end of 1844, Emerson bought eleven acres of woodland near Walden Pond at a price of eight dollars and eight cents per acre. So Thoreau came to Walden Pond at the end of March 1845 and started building a log cabin ten feet wide and fifteen feet long; until July 4th, which is the Independence Day of the United States, he finally got his wish and started that period. A life of solitude that will become legendary for generations to come.

"Aha" is a kind of heartfelt exclamation, which means seeing something surprising in the book. I gained many good sentences in this book, which are listed above.

I once read a story in a book: After many years of practice, a doctor felt that he needed to summarize, so he took a two-year leave. But this was no vacation. During the past two years, he collected information, summarized, and wrote every day, and finally completed a classic in the medical field.

Thoreau, too, completed a masterpiece that will be handed down from generation to generation in two years of living alone.

I am not as great as them at all, and it is impossible for me to publish a masterpiece. But my experience is: people need to summarize their gains at a certain stage in life and record them. As the book says: I think every writer should sooner or later record his own life simply and sincerely, instead of just describing the lives of others he has heard about.

I hope I can work towards this idea. If you haven't reached this stage yet, probably until knowledge and experience are not enough, you still need to practice virtue, experience life, and work hard.