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Primary sourceDocument1846–1854

Walden Manuscript Draft

Henry David Thoreau · 1846–1854

A handwritten page from one of the seven drafts of Walden that Thoreau wrote and revised between 1846 and 1854.

This manuscript page is part of Thoreau's own handwritten working drafts of Walden.

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Handwritten manuscript page in brown ink on aged paper, with many crossed-out words and interlineations. Text includes lines about clothes, a new suit, a snake casting its slough, and a caterpillar. Marginal notes appear at the left edge.
Henry David Thoreau, draft manuscript page of Walden, 1854. Huntington Library and Botanical Garden, San Marino, California.

About this source

What it is

This manuscript page is part of one of the seven successive drafts Henry David Thoreau wrote of Walden between 1846 and 1854. It is held at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and shows heavy revision in ink, with crossed-out words and notes added in the margin.

Why it matters

The drafts reveal that Thoreau did not write Walden quickly from memory but reworked his experience at the pond over roughly eight years, carefully shaping sentences and ideas into the finished book. This page, with its imagery of clothes, a snake shedding its skin, and a caterpillar's cocoon, shows him developing one of the book's central metaphors about personal renewal.

Look closer

  • What do the crossed-out words and marginal notes tell you about how Thoreau composed his sentences?
  • Why might comparing a person to a snake shedding its skin or a caterpillar be a useful metaphor for Thoreau's ideas?
  • How does seeing a working draft change your idea of Thoreau as a writer, compared to reading the finished book?

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