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Genesis of Walden: Brief Lecture Notes

(largely from Robert Sattelmeyer)

I. Chronology

II. Early Chapters III. Later Drafts

Later drafts show Thoreau's expansion of the second half of the book and his growing interest in showing the complexity of nature:

According to Adams and Ross in Revising Mythologies (1988), "Walden has two major climactic sequences, framed by an introduction and a conclusion" (178). The first culminates in "The Ponds" (chapter 9) and the second in "Spring" (chapter 17).


Comments to D. Campbell.