Henry David Thoreau

naturalist practitioner Henry David Thoreau Enigmatic egoist indolent aloof conceited

Reflection?

Thoreau’s life long theme • “The end of life is education.” • Intent…life is an experiment in self-education. • Experiment in Nature

Thoreau gave up conventional life to live at Walden Pond in a “hut”

According to life long friend, Emerson, Thoreau “saw as with a microscope, heard as with ear trumpet, and his memory was photographic register of everything he saw and heard.” As a naturalist

As a practitioner • Thoreau tried to live the transcendentalist philosophies • Wanted to put Emerson’s ideas into practice • Rejected his schooling and the expectations that came with it (appeared idle) • Even Emerson claimed at Thoreau’s funeral that he lacked ambition

In pursuit of his dreams, of an inner reality, he was the self-reliant nonconformist that Emerson urged all people to be.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Clash with society • “Civil Disobedience” • As a protest to Mexican War and slavery, Thoreau refused to pay taxes and, as a result, spent the night in jail • The individual has a moral responsibility to resist immoral acts of the government.

Walden • Record of Thoreau’s life (2 years) at Walden Pond condensed into one year • 4 seasons as reflection of life • Summer-live more directly with nature; unfinished hut • Autumn-work on walls and fireplace; store up experiences of summer for winter reflection

Winter-read, meditate, practice self-discipline, and transform experience into wisdom • Spring-rebirth; repeated each year

Thoreau did not recommend others follow in his footsteps. • Walden can be read as • Social criticism • Inspiration to self-reform • Observations of nature • Hymn to the possibilities of life • Only the individual can say

from Where I Lived, and What I Lived For • Thoreau’s method is to move us from small facts to larger truths • An unfinished house lets in wind that blows forever (single, unifying spirit) • Theme of Walden evident here… • “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Allusion [Iliad]---”fighting with cranes” means wasting our lives on the trivial and the nonessential • Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity • Life should be lived more simply and closer to nature to gain a better understanding of the “essential facts of life.” • What is the paradox in the last sentence? • A paradox is a statement that reveals a truth although it seems to be self-contradictory and untrue.

from Sounds • Learn from nature, not books • Simile---grew like “corn in the night.

Critical Questions from Sounds • How was this growth like corn in the night? • How does Thoreau view idleness? • How do townsmen view it? • Why the reference to Puri Indians and their concept of time? • What did Thoreau learn about his life in “Sounds”?

from Brute Neighbors • Ant metaphor • Epic, heroic quality • At the end of this, Thoreau observes that he “never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war…” How is this statement also a comment on human warfare?

from The Pond in Winter • Winter a time for reflection • How does Thoreau feel about the fisherman?

Spring • How do you feel after a long winter? • How do you know winter is over? • Time for rejuvenation • In the return of the sounds, there is hope (optimism in future) • Rebirth of soul

from the Conclusion • Why did he leave Walden Pond? • What are the advantages of poverty? • What is the significance of the “bug” analogy? • Overall, how does Thoreau feel about his experiences at Walden Pond?

Style and Purpose of Walden • Shift in styles to reflect Thoreau’s changing purposes. • Short, factual observances when he arrives at Walden Pond on Independence Day (symbolic meaning?) • “Brute Neighbors” uses more metaphor, analogy, and allusion • Slow and deliberate description

Opening paragraph of “The Pond in Winter” takes on dream-like state • Longer sentences are reflective • Short sentences for emphasis (ie: Nature doesn’t bother with questions of what-how-when-where) • Pattern: short sentences used at the beginning; longer sentences used as he observes the cold snow and frozen pond short ending sentences

From “The Conclusion” • Rather aphoristic in style • Emphasis of his main point about being true to self to be resurrected using parable about the “bug”

So what does this mean?

And the contradiction is?

Henry David Thoreau