Thoreau makes clear in the first sentence of "Walking" that nature in its most intense form - "absolute freedom and wildness" - is his subject. Although the essay resulted from the union of two lectures prepared in 1851, it is difficult not to think of it as a deathbed communication, an ultimate, emphatic reiteration and extension of themes developed throughout Thoreau's writings, a final exhortation to the reader to be alert to nature. It contains ideas expressed in his earlier writings, presented imperatively. (Among the others, "Autumnal Tints" and "Wild Apples" were, like "Walking," published in Atlantic Monthly in 1862, after Thoreau's death.) "Walking" represents a final statement of Thoreau's understanding of nature. It forms part of a cluster of natural history writings that he worked on late in his life. Thoreau prepared the essay "Walking" for publication during his final months. The Pursuit and Comprehension of the Wild Thoreau's "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers".Selected Chronology of Thoreau's Writings.Emerson's "The Divinity School Address".Selective Chronology of Emerson's Writings.Forms of Expressing Transcendental Philosophy.
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