Although scholars have argued that he was not completely alienated from society — the cabin he built was walking distance from his family home — the fact remains that Thoreau felt most inspired and productive when he was by himself.
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It was just silence and stillness all around. The absence of any sound near the historic Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, presented a contemplative atmosphere for American essayist, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau to pick up a pen and fill his notebooks with endless words about the power of solitude. Some of his famous works birthed from this secluded space include Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854), in which he detailed the importance of isolation for his artistic development.
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