American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, but he was best known for his autobiographical story of life in the woods, WALDEN (1854). Henry David Thoreau became one of the leading men in New England Transcendentalism. He was born on July 12, 1817 in concord, Massachusetts. He graduated in 1837 from Harvard College. He primarily made a living bye surveying land, and from 1837 to 1838 and later in 1844 to 1849 he worked in his fathers pencil-making factory. He also taught in a school in concord from 1838 to 1841. Henry also loved to lecture and did allot of it around 1838 to 1860. He didn't do much traveling in his lifetime, but when he did he almost always wrote about his experiences.

One very influential turning point in Henry's life was when he met his good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson in Concorde. He was a member of the household from 1841 to 1843 during which he earned most of his living...