Poetic Dwelling

Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)is a famous transcendentist writer, poet, philosopher, an outstanding abolitionist as well as an amateurish naturalist in the 19 th century. Walden, his masterpiece,notes down his thinking of nature during twenty-six-month living beside Walden pond and best presents his natural ideology of both concrete ecology and spiritual ecology.This article is divided into three parts. The first part is chapter one, exploring the causes of Thoreau’s ecological thoughts, based on historical background, writer’s personal growth experience, his unique living environment, Transcendentalism and cultural context in social background. The second part, including chapter two and chapter three, is the hard core of the whole article. By analysing the text Walden, these two chapters eaplain Thoreau’s ecological thoughts from the perspectives of Ecological holism, the relationship between Human and Nature and simplicity of life respectively. Chapter four is the third part, mainly discusses Walden’s practical significance including the impact on modern life style and enlightment upon economic development in current China. Combing with Ecocriticism and ecological literature, this paper tries to make a systematical interpretation on Walden aiming at leading a re-consideration towards the relationship between Human beings and Nature, awakening people to the construction of an amicable relationship between Nature and Human civilization, thus realizing the dream of Poetic Dwelling.