The Service

What it is

"The Service" is an essay by Henry David Thoreau, written around 1840 and published in 1902. The record notes that Thoreau's manuscript was found among the Emerson papers, tied with faded pink ribbon, and that its pages were not numbered. The published version includes an introductory note. The essay takes up war and the image of the soldier of the Lord and the medieval crusader, and it is written in a style full of paradox. The text is listed on Wikisource.

Why it matters

The essay is one of Thoreau's early works, and it was not published in his lifetime. It was likely shaped by the debates over peace and non-resistance that were common in New England in 1840, and it shows that Thoreau was willing to argue for positions that others rejected. Students can use it to examine how a writer tests ideas through paradox and how an early work differs from the later writing that made him famous.

Look closer

• Thoreau takes up the cause of war in an essay about human life. Why might he have chosen this paradox, and what does it reveal about his thinking?
• The essay was found among papers kept by others and published decades later. What does this history tell you about how far we can trust its date and its final form?
• Which parts of the essay show the influence of his time, and which parts seem to speak for Thoreau alone?