Walking

2023 Reprint of the 1914 U.S. Edition. Walking is a transcendentalist essay that analyzes the relationship between man and nature, trying to find a balance between society and our raw animal nature. According to Thoreau:


"I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated, any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest."


Walking has long been a favorite with readers but was not published separately until after his death. It made its first appearance in the Atlantic Monthly for June 1862, shortly after the death of its author, who had corrected the proof, in part at least, during his last illness. Thoreau had contributed this essay, together with Autumnal Tints and Wild Apples, at the solicitation of James T. Fields, then editor of the Atlantic. It had probably been written at a much earlier date, for parts of it-- about one third in all--are to be found scattered through his Journal for the years 1850-52, and it had perhaps been used as a lecture, in accordance with the custom of its author, whose literary work often progressed through the several stages of journal entry, lecture, and magazine article before reaching publication in book form. Walking was included in the volume of Thoreau's essays collected from various sources by his sister Sophia and published by Ticknor & Fields in 1863 under the title of Excursions.