While one considers the different aspects of Walden, these aspects should not obscure the essential core of the book: the process by which the narrator moves toward spiritual fulfillment. This point cannot be stressed too strongly because, for over a century, many individuals - sometimes very intelligent ones - have tended to ignore this centrally significant fact and have chosen to view Walden in other ways. The narrator's celebration of life and his call for all men to recognize the potential magnificence of life form the core idea, or unifying theme, of Walden. If the narrator sometimes seems smug and self-righteous, it must be recalled that he is crowing 'to wake his neighbors up' to their own greatness, not just his own. So, while the narrator may crow loudly, sometimes proudly strutting about, and may boast of his 'clear flame' with a degree of pride approaching hubris, it should not be forgotten that his self-pride is to be shared by his readers. Like the other transcendentalists, Thoreau was a strong moralist, and one of the most distinctive characteristics of Walden is that the narrator consistently tries to alert his readers to their potential for spiritual growth. He vividly shows us his life he 'brags' of his achievement and he tries by his example to renew 'the dead dry life of society.' Thus, when the narrator 'brags,' it is not only for himself but for all humanity's potential for greatness. In it, we hear the 'bragging' narrator reiterating the firm conviction that all men may achieve the exhilaration that he feels. Walden may be viewed as Thoreau's attempt at this third stage in the transcendental life. After being nurtured by books and nature, he must attempt to share his spiritual gains with other men who have not yet achieved their perfect spiritual states. The third stage he must attempt, after self-renewal, is the renewal of society-at-large. (We see the narrator of Walden go through these two stages in his progress toward spiritual rebirth.) After thus cultivating his own spirit, the transcendentalist does not selfishly remain content with himself. With these two stages, the transcendentalist has developed his higher faculties he has cultivated his life and 'spiritualized' it. In 'The American Scholar,' Emerson described the three basic stages of a transcendentalist's life: first, he learns all that is of merit in the wisdom of the past second, he establishes a harmonious relationship with nature through which he is able to discover ethical truths and communicate with the divine. And before the student decides to term the book the work of a rabid egomaniac, a further word about the nature of this 'brag' should be offered. Thus commences one of the most sophisticated and artistic 'brags' in the history of American literature. This is a fitting way to begin the artistic depiction of how one man moved away from the state of being a 'god in ruins' and moved toward a god-like state of fulfillment.

In light of what has been said about Thoreau's transcendentalism, one might rightly expect Walden to begin on just such a note of buoyancy and high-spiritedness. He feels as though he has been reborn into a fresh and new, more satisfying life he celebrates the feeling of having left behind his old self, the spiritually asleep creature made lifeless by 'the dead dry life of society,' for the sake of a new and ecstatic spiritual life. It is a new world and a new self that he has discovered through his thought and activity at his woodland retreat.

He will brag lustily, with a full-throated voice, that he, like the rooster that greets the dawn, has successfully created a way of living that has enabled him to find a 'new day' in his life. The tone is one of great confidence and joy the pages to follow will be the narrator's optimistic proclamation of the richness and fullness of his life at Walden Pond. The reader attempting to approach an understanding and appreciation of Walden should immediately note that here, in this inscription, the germ of the book may be found. I DO NOT PROPOSE TO WRITE AN ODE TO DEJECTION, BUT TO BRAG AS LUSTILY AS CHANTICLEER IN THE MORNING, STANDING ON HIS ROOST, IF ONLY TO WAKE MY NEIGHBORS UP. On this page, the narrator of Walden declares: In some editions of Walden, there is included an inscription page which precedes the first chapter.

Joyspring walden