長久以來，世人爭論政治、文化議題，乃至較晚近的生態議題時，經常引用梭羅的《湖濱散記》為素材，因為讀者往往把梭羅的這本書視為自我完善的實用指南，終極目標是創造烏托邦之中的完美自然人。 本論文旨在探討以如此視角閱讀《湖濱散記》，所產生的一些令人遺憾的後果，並且提出可能的因素，說明讀者何以抗拒採用替代的、藝術的、浪漫主義的角度來閱讀此書。梭羅同時期和後代的評論家顯然認為這本書弱點甚多，可是在這些令他們抱憾的缺點背後，實際上隱藏了一些長處，本文對此特別加以闡釋，尤其想要凸顯梭羅筆下創新的、浪漫主義的一面——在探討《湖濱散記》的眾多偏重務實、政治甚或民族主義的論述籠罩之下，這個層面則少有論者觸及。 本論文的結論是，梭羅確有能力結合浪漫主義與理性主義。浪漫主義初期勃發的理想主義伴隨著一板一眼的革命情懷與雄辯詞藻，曾經活生生拆散了浪漫與理性的姻緣。梭羅的作品重新提振浪漫主義的能見度，在寫實主義和現代主義一呼百諾的時代裡，對浪漫主義的部分復興頗有貢獻。

H. D. Thoreau’s Walden has often been found in the midst of political, cultural, or, more recently, ecological controversy due to the frequent reading of his text as a practically-oriented guidebook for self-improvement towards an ultimate goal of creating the perfect natural man in a “utopia of one.” This paper examines some unfortunate consequences of this reading of Walden, as well as possible reasons for the historical resistance to alternative, artistic, romantic readings of the work in the hope of elucidating some of the hidden strengths behind the often glaring inadequacies of the book, which were lamentably obvious to his contemporaries and subsequent generations of critics. This paper also draws attention to the innovative, Romantic side of Thoreau which is commonly obscured by such practical, political or even nationalistic representations of Walden. The paper concludes with the assertion that Thoreau was able to effect a marriage of the Romantic and the Rationalistic, which had been so crudely and acrimoniously divorced by the uncompromising, revolutionary rhetoric associated with the idealism of early Romanticism. Thus, Thoreau is able to reinvigorate the Romantic outlook and contribute towards its partial survival into periods dominated by Realism and Modernism.