Criticism of Thoreau

The criticism that i found that was over Thoreau's work of "Walden," i found to be very interesting. After i read the short story and then i read the criticism on it, i had to agree a lot about what the author had to say about the writing of Thoreau. For example, in the criticism, the author tended to state quite a bit that Thoreau spent a little too much time in the beginning of "Walden" describing how he wanted to simplify life and find its true meaning (Keck). According to the author of the criticism, the author, Thoreau, also spent much too much time telling the audience or the reader that he will definitely want to write about whatever he finds in the woods. What Thoreau is describing in the early parts of the passage is that he wants to go off into nature, alone, and he really wants wants find out what life and nature is really about (Keck). He wants to do this because the writer, Thoreau really wants to find out how simple life can be and if it is really easy going or if it is full of hardships (Keck). The author of "Walden" Thoreau, then goes on to claim that he will report his findings in nature, or what he experienced, and he will write about it and tell the audience what life is truly about. I would have to fully agree on the author with this one. In my opinion, i think that the author went on for far too long trying to explain this. It is literally a whole page and a half of the excerpt from "Walden." To keep the reader interested, if i were the author, i would try to get this point across within a page or a page just simply because i knew that the excerpt would bore or make my reader or audience want to put the book down. Later in the criticism though, the author describes how he really likes the type of language that Thoreau uses in "Walden." The author of the criticism begins this argument by giving many examples of the very pretty language that Thoreau uses in his famous work (Keck). The author of the criticism then follows up on his first argument by giving many examples of beautiful metaphors the Thoreau uses in his work (Keck). In all honesty, i would have to agree completely with the author of the criticism. The the short work "Walden", Thoreau uses some very pretty language. Throughout the story, Thoreau really does use pretty language in his story. In my opinion, he really proves that he is a romantic writer by the way that he describes nature in his writing and the positive and very romantic tone he uses when he describes it. Is seems like before he wrote this story, Walden had many past experiences with nature and he knew exactly how to describe it in his story. This is the main reason why i have to agree with the author of the criticism. (Keck)

Keck, Michaela. "Thoreau's Walden and the American Dream: Challenge or Myth?" In Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BLTTAD021&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 15, 2010).