This week, we continue the chapter, “Spring.” On page 164, Thoreau notes details of the winter “thaw” (did you look that word up?). On page 165, he makes an allusionto God, the “Artist,” or creator. In the same paragraph, he personifies the earth, and also makes a comparison to an “animal body” in an overlapping metaphor. Then he gets all sciency, almost a rap style meditation on terms such as lobe, radicals, mass, and liquid, a mash-up of physics, biology, botany, and poetry. The last sentence compares a tree to a river to towns and cities, and to insect eggs. This is what makes Thoreau such a challenge to read! Some of you have written that he jumps around, gets off point, goes from one thing to another. That is true, but at the same time not. Rather, Thoreau weaves impressions and observations together with various branches of knowledge and religion. He’s tripping, but on life. He continues with this layering effect in the next paragraph. He starts off talking about the tides of the river in relationship to the sun. He then freestyles into how rivers branch off just like blood vessels. By the middle of the paragraph, he starts comparing rivers to the human body and finally, the river and the trees and banks that surround it, to a face.
As you’re reading the next few paragraphs, see if you can trip along with Thoreau. Picture him sitting on the riverbank and observing the season change from winter to spring. Where does he use metaphor or simile? What is he comparing? Note when he brings in scientific terms and then twists them up into a religious allusion. You don’t have to understand every little thing but see if you can follow some of his thoughts. I especially enjoy reading these pages now as I look out and see what nature is doing outside the window. He ends this chapter by saying that he has just spent his first year in the woods and that the second one was pretty much the same. Now that you’re finishing your very strange semester, you will also be able to look back and say that you completed something. Page 172 begins the conclusion! We’ve talked about conclusions in class, how they should answer the “so what” questions, how they should point to the larger implications of your argument. Watch how Thoreau does this for the next few pages. Up until now, he’s been focusing on the details and then expanding them into larger points. In this chapter, we get to see the bigger picture. On page 174, I think he’s saying that he was in a rut so he decided to follow a different path. He didn’t want to hide from the world, he wanted to reach as high as he could. In the middle of the page, he starts pulling together what he’s learned from his experience—much like you can in your own conclusions. He’s not focusing so much on detail now as he is broadening these lessons to include the reader. Do you relate to any of his ideas? I find what he says about how “mean your life is” (mean in this case means poor), to be especially significant in these times, which seem so mean in both senses of the word. He tells us not to “shun it” or push it away, but instead reassures us that it’s not so bad. “Love your life,” he says, “poor as it is.” We are living in Waldenish times where we are forced into living a far simpler life than what many of us are used to. What has it been like for you not to “get new things, whether clothes or friends” (177)? On page 178, he places the highest value on truth, not “money” or “fame.” He addresses you, the reader, directly. He ends, on page 180, by reminding us that day follows night. In other words, don’t give up hope even when the world seems hopeless. If you haven’t kept up with the reading, I strongly encourage you to read this chapter. Find the quietest place you can or go to a quiet place inside of yourself. If you read the whole book, be proud of yourself for accomplishing a difficult task in a difficult time. If you didn’t, I hope you will pick it up from time to time and find something meaningful to take with you into your life.
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