How did Thoreau’s understanding of nature and its role in society change over the course of his life and writings?

Nature and solitude is at the heart of Thoreau's writing. For Thoreau, living outside of human community is the complement to living immersed in nature. One must withdraw from human company to truly experience oneness with nature and, therefore, with God. "I love to be alone," he declares.

Thoreau sometimes had visitors at his cabin and sometimes walked into the village to hear news and observe people (much as he observed animals; in one passage he compares watching people in the village to watching muskrats in the woods). But, he writes, "I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating."

Human society moves too fast for Thoreau and centers around things that are of no interest to him: acquiring large homes and luxuries, giving fancy dinner parties, gossiping, and working long hours to pay for things. He sees most people as being spiritually asleep, and feels he has nothing in common with them.

In answer to those who asked if he was lonely, Thoreau writes that he had much company in his solitude. "Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me," he assures readers. He even asserts that he was visited by God "in the long winter evenings" and by Mother Nature—"a ruddy and lustful old dame" who told him fables and invited him to walk in her garden.