Green
Cyclones
Excerpts from
Thoreau’s Walden
From
“Where I Lived and What I
Lived For”
Summary
 Thoreau
went to the woods because he
wished to simplify life and reduce life to its
lowest terms
 Makes a statement about how life is
complicated in the cities
Figurative Language
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The morning wind forever blows, the poem of
creation is uninterrupted but few are the ears
that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the
Earth everywhere
There are many things to be appreciated but
many people don’t take notice
IN the mids of this chpping sea of civilized life
such asre the clouds and storms and
quicksands and thosand and one items to be
allowed for that a man has to live, if he would
not founder and go to the bottom and not
make his port at all by dead reckoning
there are so many things in life that we get
distracted
Aphorisms
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We do not ride on the railroad, it rides upon us.
People use up more time building the railroads
that they don’t have time using them.
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.
He went to the woods to discover what is
important and not regret it later when it’s too late
Summary:
• Thoreau stopped living a normal life and what he usually
did on a daily basis.
• He observed every detail in nature and the sun’s
movement throughout the day.
• Heard the birds singing and how they sung to the sun’s
movement.
• Time as irrelevant for him since he only focused on his
surroundings.
• All humans have to live according to what they believe
in and not just because.
Figurative Language
Similies:
1. “ Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at
my incessant good fortune”
 -Thoreau was relating to the birds as they sung,
because nature was the reason for their happiness and
nature helped them connect with the inner soul.
 2. “..for I lived like the Puri Indians, of whom it is said..”
 -Thoreau thought that man should find a motivation to
live each day to it’s fullest and that should inspire them
to look forward for the future.
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Aphorisms
1.
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“…for yesterday, today, and tomorrow, they have only
one word, and they express the variety of meaning by
pointing backward for yesterday, forward for
tomorrow, and overhead for the passing day.”
-Live each day as if there was no tomorrow, to the
fullest.
2. “A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true.”
-Every man has a passion and he has to live for that
passion and never give up.
From “Brute Neighbors”
Summary
Thereau spends 1 hour or more observing
how a group of ants (red vs. black) fight for
their lives. He describes how they struggle
for victory and compares it to a human war.
He mentions how the ants’ war probably
had some meaning in relation to human
war that is often fought with out a purpose.
Figurative Language
 Metaphors:
 “…
the red republicans on the one hand,
and the black imperialist on the other.
War is as useless with ants like with humans.
 “they fought with more pertinacity than
bulldogs”
Aphorisms
 “I
was myself excited somewhat even as if
they had ben men. The more you think of
it, the less the difference”
 “I have no doubt that there is a principle
that they fought for, as much as our
ancestors, and not to avoid a three
penny tax on their tee”
From “The Pond in Winter”
Summary
 Thoreau
wakes up with an unknown
question in his mind, a question that
nature answers when he precisely
observes it. He makes detailed
observations about his surroundings. He
explains that winter is a time of peace
and discipline.
Figurative Language
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“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our
heads.” This means that the world is so
peaceful we have heaven in our
atmosphere.
“Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it
closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for
three months or more.”
Thoreau explains that ice during winter ice
yields life underneath ponds. Likewise, people
who seem idle, might have life and vitality
within.
Aphorisms
 “His
life itself passes deeper in nature than
the studies of the naturalist penetrate.”
The connection between man and nature
goes beyond observations, it goes deeper
within the soul.
 “Nature puts no question and answers
none which we mortals ask.” Nature
doesn’t put forth any trivial questions, yet
it has all the answers.
From “Spring”
Summary
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Thoreau describes in detail what happens
during spring at Walden. He describes how
things come back to life and how the ice
melts away and the days become bright. He
mentions how animals get out of their hiding
places and how they start singing. He
describes how the migratory birds fly in the sky
and that he could hear the flapping of their
wings. He states how the melting of the pond
is like humanity being reborn.
Figurative Language
 Simile:
It is unusually hard, owing to the
recent severe but transient cold, and all
watered or waved like a palace floor.
 Simile: It is glorious to behold this ribbon of
water sparkling in the sun, the bare face
of the pond full of glee, and youth, as if it
spoke the joy of the fishes within it, and of
the sands on it’s shore- a silvery sheen as
from the scales of Leusicus, as it were all
one active fish.
Symbols
I looked out the window, and lo! Where
yesterday was cold gray ice there lay the
transparent pond already calm and full of
hope…
-The pond symbolizes changes the point of view
from being dark and negative, to being bright
and hopeful.
 As every season seems best to us in its turn, so
the coming in of spring is like the creation of
cosmos out of chaos and the realization of
the Golden Age.
- The pond in spring symbolizes humanity’s
rebirth.
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From the “Conclusion”
Summary
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He must leave the woods to live his life to the fullest.
By simplifying your life you can make everything
better and easier.
Defy society by doing what your heart tells you to do.
However hard or unfair your life may be, enjoy it and
make the best of it.
If old things make you happy and you considered
them good, don’t look for new improvements.
Someone who doesn’t know what it feels like to have
everything in life will appreciate more the little things
he gets.
Figurative Language
 “It
is life near the bone where it is
sweetest.”
What this metaphor states is that at the
core of the human soul is where the best
of life can be found, the meaning of life
lies much deeper than the person.
 “The
sun is but a morning star”
Each day is a new beginning.
Aphorisms
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it;
do not shun it and call it hard names.”
What this aphorism means is that no matter how
bad or cruel your life may seem, you must
never turn your back on it but rather live it
and enjoy it.
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“The faultfinder will find faults even in
paradise.”
If you approach life negatively you will only
experience the bad things.
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