Published in 1854, Thoreau&#39;s &quot;Walden&quot; is one the most prominent works of transcendental literature.<br />&quot;Walden&quot; 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&#39;s book made Walden Pond so famous that today it&#39;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.