u an attempt to live within nature, to "transcend" not real life but the prison of society and conformity which alienates man from himself, from others, from the spiritual reality which is the essence of nature. To Thoreau, man had become discouraged by the meaninglessness and complexity of society. He stands with the Transcendentalists when he sees in nature the answer to many of the problems, especially the spiritual problems, of man:
If . . . we would restore mankind by truly, botanic, magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our brows, and take up a little life into our pores (Thoreau 64).
Thoreau in Walden not only expresses his desire for and understanding of the spiritual component in human life and in nature, his concrete experien
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