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It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate the nature of Thoreau's use of organic imagery by tracing recurrent symbols that represent key concepts and provide unity and coherence throughout Walden. By charting the patterns of imagery in Walden, one can observe Thoreau's movement from an initially pessimistic view of man's present state to one of transcendental optimism and hope for freedom in the future.

Walden (1854), by the American author Henry David Thoreau (1817--1862), is explored as a work of literature with significant implications for environmental ethics in contemporary architectural practice. This reading challenges ethical models which depend for their legitimacy on determining a static representation of the world around us. Thoreau's literary discussion of the construction of his shelter and the subsequent revealing of a view of nature is offered as a more complete approach to finding a significant discourse concerning the relationship between humanity and the earth. The relevance of the poetic imagination is asserted through exploring the many aspects of the metaphors of verticality and flight in Walden . Thoreau's effort is extended into a brief discussion of Australian architect Glenn Murcutt (born 1936) and a consideration of the natural world in light of the phenomenon of a gift.

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This thesis examines the connections between three frequently associated nineteenth-century texts, Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, Melville's Moby Dick, and Thoreau's Walden. It begins by reviewing the contexts normally offered for them, and then proposes an alternative one, "dialogic irony," that is based upon the complementary theoretical models of Friedrich Schlegel and Mikhail Bakhtin. After this conceptual background is outlined, the various modes of dialogic irony presented in the three works are discussed. That of Walden arises out of a close analogy between self and text: both are a series of inner voices juxtaposed with and often contradicting one another. Sartor complicates this relatively unobstructed form of selfhood through the inclusion of the Editor, whose unitary voice represents a challenge to the kind of selfhood sanctioned by Walden. Moby Dick also challenges dialogic irony, but its forms of opposition are more penetrating and various: while in Carlyle's text dialogic irony is ultimately affirmed through the figure of Teufelsdrockh, Ishmael is left stranded and displaced by the multitude of voices in his text. Melville's work therefore provides an excellent way to review and critique some of the prevailing assumptions about dialogue in contemporary criticism, a task sketched in the conclusion.

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Through careful analysis of sound in Walden with some attention to related works, this study demonstrates the three major facets of Thoreau's use of sound: first, an unusual aural sensitivity illustrated by his many varied sound images, which add concreteness and experiential immediacy; next, the depth of meaning that sound has as his metaphysical symbol in perception and expression of spiritual truth; finally, his effectiveness with such auditory devices as rhythm, alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia to achieve a poetic quality-. Of equal importance to Thoreau are the sounds of his writing and the sounds in his writing. Realizing the reality, depth, and texture Thoreau gives his prose through his remarkable treatment of sound increases one's appreciation of Walden as art and of Thoreau as literary artist.