Thoreau’s Walden
Order Description
Thoreau’s Walden
Read the excerpt from Thoreau’s Walden (1854) on p. 227 of The Humanistic Tradition.
Post a response 275-375 words to the following questions, providing specific examples to support your answers:
Was Thoreau’s retreat to Walden Pond an adventure in practical survival or an extended mystical experience?
What might Thoreau mean by the “indescribable innocence and beneficence of nature”?
the \wuods. \s’c rcuuu lo wagon and (aim. l’hcrc l [Cc] They were pleasant spring days, In which the winter of man’s
that mulling (an lx’fal] mv in Iil’r-nu disgmrv. nu discontent was thawing as well astho oatth, and the lite that
mlamity (leaning m) (fixes). \s‘hit‘h natttt‘r’ mnnot repair. had lain torp d began to stretch itself. One day, when my axe
Standing on the hare gmund-mt’ timid batht-d hv tlw had coma off and l had cut a green hickory tor a wedge, drivmg
blitlu- nit .md uplifted into infinite 3pm c-.tll tut-.111 it with a stone. and had placed the whole to soak i1 a pond- 20
cgtitism \anishcx. l bcunuc 1t ttamparcnt cit-ball: l am hole in order to swell the wood, l saw a striped snake run into
withing; I scc till; tlir tuttmts ul’ tlic Univmutl Bcittg the water, and he lav on the bottom, apparenttywthout
rirt‘ulntc- through uiv; l .im putt or pat‘t‘rl ol‘t‘mrl inconvenience, as long as I stayed there. or more than a
a uarterof an hour, erha s because he had not ‘etfairt come
Although but kttuwtt tut [th (status, cspcttallv [host utt thc q . p p ‘ V v
out of the torptd state. lt appeared to me that for a like reason
titttr-s of wlf-rr-lmnrr- and rtrirtmrrfmmm. Elm-ism] was a . . . . a . a
men remain in their present low and primitive condition, but it
purl til «unstrlrtxrhlr talent. Hr shared mth (Ailrt’idge and . , ‘ t
l c . l ‘ they should leel the influence of the spring o springs arousmg
“urrlsmnth l‘lmth til “hunt hr lnnl tnt’l tn linglantll rt tnvs-
them, they would of necessrty rise to a higher and more
ttt‘ rct‘ct‘cncc for nature: but hc also brought to hts pocm‘
t . . . ethereal lrle. l had previously seer. the snakes on lrosty
a nntquc appt‘cuatton ol Asutn phtlosopln‘. whtch he had . , c . . c
mornings in my path With portions of their bodies still numb 30
tittiniit-tl lii wading sonic iil the it‘iiliztl with of lltmhi . . .c
i . and inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them. on the lst
literature. Including the Bluigriwulfnm twe (haplei 3t. lit I e e e
V . ’ u .. , , , . .. . , ul April it rained a’id melted the ice, and iri the early part ol
Emerson s short pot-tn Brahma ism- l.()()l\l\(i l.\l()t. A i
i . . _ the dav. which was very foggy, I heard a stray goose groping
the panthetsnc philosophy tit the transccndcntttltsts is
about over the pond and cackling as if lost, or like the spirit of
gin-n htii‘ (‘xpit-xs‘ion. thetog
Fi‘iirt‘stins li ii-nrl Hriii \t Dmitl Thoicatt l’lRl’i-lRl‘i‘ll ”H , a
lwetit to t’ie woods because I Wished to Irve deliberately, to
wt into In.“ ttt‘r nizini til the ;intiin;itri’t;ilist ttlrsils ol the
t front only the essential facts ol life, and see it I catld not learn
trLittxt‘t-ttrlt‘tttaltstsi Iii his t’ottth. lhot‘t‘ntt minted ;i ligtt h-
y , , , . what it had to teach, and not. when l came to die, discover that
clot‘ s degree at llanut‘d L nn‘ersttv and made his wax’ in . . . . . . t
l had not lived. l did notwrsh to live what was not rte. lrvrng ts
the wotld bi tutoring. sunning. and making pencils. .\n
so dear. nor did l Wish to practice reSignation, unless it was a
tixirl opponent of slaw-n. ht- ts’ns lulled lii ielli lot i‘el’tts- V
quite necessary. lwanted to live deep arid suck out all the
trig tii p.“ :i poll tax to .i pi’i‘i‘sliii’etV government- In :in . , , A
a ‘ ‘ . marrow of lilo, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to
tnthietttttil own on t‘ml disobedience. lhoi‘ezni defended i
rout all that was not lite, to cut a broad swath and shave close,
the philosophy of passne tesistant e .itid tnural tdetthstn i
to drive life into a corner, and reduce itto its lowest terms,
that he himself practiced-ti philosophv embraced bv the
and, it it proved to be mean, why then to getthe whole and
twentieth~centttrv leaders Mohandas hatatnchand L-andht
genome meanness of it and publish its mearnessto the world;
and M‘mm [Mum hng’ or ’l ’twere s bl‘tie to knov ’t b ex er‘ence anc be ableto
a . . . i i . u it , iii i
In 1MB Thoieziii ahniii‘loiii-d iiibmi siii‘ietii to liw iii the , y p
V. give a t’ue account of it in my next excurSion. For ‘nost men, it
Massiii liiisetts Woods near \Milden lonrl-tin expriiinrnt
c . i appears to n‘e, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether rt
that lasted twenty-six months. lle destt‘tbed his lou- of the t
is of the dewl or ol God. and have somevmathastilyconcluded so
natural world. his ttuncotifuntnst attitude toward societi‘. i . _ fl
V . y i . t . i . that it is the chiel end ol man here to glorify God and enioy
and his deep (oiiiitittiiient tii tnotiktsh siniphetts tn his hm tomvm
l i
“handbook liii‘ hung. talletl Ilrililrii, in Ii/r m Ilir llumli. lit
s . . ’ . – Simplimty, Simplicny, Simplicity! l say. let your a’tairs be as
this tiitittiiite vet forthright than. Thoreau glortltes nature
two or three. and not a hundred or a thousand; inaead of a
as innocent and beiieticent-a source ol ios’ and practical
ubuuuwn * million count half a dozen. and keep your accounts on your
thumb-nail. . . . Instead of three meals a day, it it be necessary
eat but one; instead ol a hundred dishes, live; and reduce other
READING 27.6 FlOrT’. ThOleaU’S W8/d9niiifiti things i’t proportion,
The indescribable innocence and beneficence of Nature.-
Near the end ol March, l845,l borrowed an axe and went t oI sun and wind and rain, ol summer and wmter,-such health. u
down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where such cheer, they afford forever! and such sympathy have they
l intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, ever with our race, that all Nature would be affected, and the
ar’owy white pines, still in their youth, for timber. . . . It was a sun’s brightness fade,
