Published in 1854, Thoreau's "Walden" is one the most prominent works of transcendental literature. "Walden" chronicles the two years that Thoreau spent in a cabin on the property owned by his friend and fellow transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. The cabin was near a body of water called Walden Pond. Thoreau's book made Walden Pond so famous that today it's often used to signify any beautifully natural serene scene, the same way someone might refer to any large, opulent house as the Taj Mahal.
