Profile of the Day: Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

On August 9, 1854, Henry David Thoreau‘s novel Walden was published. Walden is Thoreau’s most famous novel, he also wrote the essay Civil Disobedience. Thoreau was also a poet, philosopher and abolitionist. His writings inspired many notable leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John F. Kennedy.

Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts to John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar. His name at birth was David Henry, named after his paternal uncle who had passed away. After college he started using Henry David, but never legally changed his name. Thoreau’s birthplace, Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse, was restored by the Thoreau Farm Trust and serves as a museum which is open to the public.

He studied at Harvard and graduated in 1837. Thoreau returned to Concord after graduating and met Ralph Waldo Emerson through a mutual friend. Emerson introduced Thoreau to other writers and thinkers which included Margaret Fuller, Ellery Channing and Nathaniel Hawthorne. He encouraged Thoreau to write essays and keep a journal. The essays were published in a periodical called The Dial which was edited by Margaret Fuller.

Thoreau’s health declined after he became ill with bronchitis. He continued to write, revising and editing his unpublished works. Thoreau died on May 6, 1862, he was originally buried in the Dunbar family plot, but he was eventually moved to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons