Early American Literature discussion

Walden by Henry David Thoreau has been elected for our May 2020 group read! I am setting up the discussion thread early just in case I get busy on the 1st and can't get the thread up immediately (it happened last month!). There will just be one thread this time, so please give the chapter number/title you are reading and use the hide spoilers link if possible. :) I am really looking forward to reading and discussing this one!

And please feel free to share any general info/thoughts about Walden or Thoreau beforehand. :) Have any of you read any of his works before?

My first introduction to Mr. Thoreau was through a VHS tape my family borrowed from the library when I was about 9 years old, which showed scenes from Walden Pond along with narrations from Thoreau's writings. I don't know how much I really understood, but I was fascinated nonetheless and watched it several times (to my younger sister's dismay...lol!). I first read Walden when I was 16 and thoroughly enjoyed it. I even carried the book around with me on walks in the woods and re-read certain passages over and over. Now it's been several years since I read it and I'm looking forward to it very much! :)

I'm really hyped to read this! Never read Thoreau before. I've also read negative reviews of Walden, but I'm hopeful I'm in the same introspective frame of mind right now to appreciate it. :)

I am looking forward to this read.

The first book of Thoreau I read was Walking
back in March, in my fondness for long walks.
Walden has me wondering what I will
learn from this experience, I am also looking forward to
this read.

Loretta wrote: "Ruth wrote: "The first book of Thoreau I read was Walking
back in March, in my fondness for long walks.
Walden has me wondering what I will
learn from this experience..."

Thanks Loretta.😊

Yay, so much enthusiasm here! I know there will be lots of good discussions from this read! :)

What I like most about Thoreau are his descriptions and love of nature. As for his Transcendental philosophy...sometimes I do think he goes a little off the deep end, but there are many gems of truth there as well. He must have been a very interesting character. Hawthorne compared him to an Indian and said that "to hold intercourse [with him] is like hearing the wind among the boughs of a forest-tree." There is a very interesting chapter on Thoreau in Van Wyck Brook's The Flowering of New England, 1815-1865; Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Beginnings of American Literature.
Brooks describes him as a thorn-bush that bears fragrant flowers.
Here is a passage from that chapter...

"Sometimes, in the midst of a gentle rain, Henry felt an influence about him that was suddenly sweet and beneficent. Every sight and sound, the very pattering of the drops, was filled with an unaccountable friendliness. It was to seek this, and all it meant, that he went for his daily walk, with note-book and spy- glass in his pocket, and the hat with its lining gathered in the middle to make a little shelf, a botany-box. He was another Linnaeus, setting out for Lapland, though he did not wish to be a "naturalist." Looking at nature straight in the eye was as fatal as to look at the head of Medusa. The man of science always turned to stone. Henry wished to look at nature sidewise, or to look through nature and beyond it. Too many observations were dissipating. One had to be the magnet, in the midst of all this dust and all these filings. Sometimes he rose at two o'clock, for a walk to the Cliffs, to wait there till sunrise, or to watch the fog on the river. He loved those valleys in the fog in which the trees appeared as if at the bottom of the sea. Sometimes he spent the whole of a moonlight night roaming the lonely pastures, where the cattle were silently feeding, to the croaking of the frogs, the intenser dream of the crickets, the half-throttled note of a cuckoo flying over. The bushes loomed, the potato-vines stood upright, the corn grew apace. One's eyes were partially closed then; the other senses took the lead. Every plant emitted its odour, the swamp-pink in the meadow, the tansy in the road. One caught the peculiar dry scent of the corn, which was just beginning to show its tassels. One heard the tinkling of rills one had never detected before. The moonlight over the village, as one stole into the street, seemed to bring antiquity back again. The church, with its fluted columns, reminded one of the Parthenon. The houses had a classical elegance.
Sometimes, even in the morning, usually sacred to reading and writing, the wind fairly blew him out of doors. The elements were so lively and active, and he felt so sympathetic with them, that he could not sit while the wind went by."

Oddly enough, since Hawthorne seemed to enjoy his company, Thoreau apparently didn't always enjoy Hawthorne's... "One led him to one's loveliest swamp, and Hawthorne stood on the brink, disconsolate. 'Let us get out of this dreadful hole,' he said. He never even noticed the naked viburnum rising above the dwarf andromeda." This sounds so unlike Hawthorne's usual perception of the beautiful in nature that it has me quite puzzled. That's the one thing that frustrates me about Brooks' book...he says in the preface that he can give sources for everything he has written, but he provides no bibliography!

Anyway, there's my little essay on Thoreau. ;) I do also love this description of him from Emerson's Wood Notes...

And such I knew, a forest seer,
A minstrel of the natural year,
Foreteller of the vernal ides,
Wise harbinger of spheres and tides,
A lover true, who knew by heart
Each joy the mountain dales impart;
It seemed that Nature could not raise
A plant in any secret place,
In quaking bog, on snowy hill,
Beneath the grass that shades the rill,
Under the snow, between the rocks,
In damp fields known to bird and fox,
But he would come in the very hour
It opened in its virgin bower,
As if a sunbeam showed the place,
And tell its long-descended race.
It seemed as if the breezes brought him,
It seemed as if the sparrows taught him;
As if by secret sight he knew
Where, in far fields, the orchis grew.
Many haps fall in the field
Seldom seen by wishful eyes,
But all her shows did Nature yield,
To please and win this pilgrim wise.
He saw the partridge drum in the woods;
He heard the woodcock’s evening hymn;
He found the tawny thrushes’ broods;
And the shy hawk did wait for him;
What others did at distance hear,
And guessed within the thicket’s gloom,
Was shown to this philosopher,
And at his bidding seemed to come.

I am very excited about this book!! My best friend LOVES Thoreau, and I can't wait to try this! 😀

Emma wrote: "I am very excited about this book!! My best friend LOVES Thoreau, and I can't wait to try this! 😀"

Thank you for nominating it, Emma! I hope you enjoy it. :) Is your friend on Goodreads by any chance?

She is, but she's not on here hardly at all any more. I'll tell her about this group though! (Tell her how awesome it is ;D)

Ah ok. Well it would be lovely to have her...I already like her taste in books! :D

She does have great tastes! XD

I just started this one early this morning but I'm getting sleepy so I didn't get very far. I'm still in the Economy chapter. It seems very good so far.

Doreen wrote: "I just started this one early this morning but I'm getting sleepy so I didn't get very far. I'm still in the Economy chapter. It seems very good so far."

Hope you got some rest, Doreen! Sometimes reading puts me to sleep. :D

I like Emerson's poem, I would like to read more.
He is quite the observer of Thoreau and his ways,
like someone he has never met. Emerson was
superb in his description of Thoreau.

Chapter 1: Economy Page 9-10 Standard Ebook
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/hen...

(view spoiler)["But man’s capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried. Whatever have been thy failures hitherto, “be not afflicted, my child, for who shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone?” We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; as, for instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once a system of earths like ours. If I had remembered this it would have prevented some mistakes. This was not the light in which I hoed them. The stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles! What distant and different beings in the various mansions of the universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment! Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? ✨We should live in all the ages of the world in an hour; ay, in all the worlds of the ages. History, Poetry, Mythology!—I know of no reading of another’s experience so startling and informing as this would be."✨ (hide spoiler)]

*WOW! 👏👏👏 This is so true
This is a loaded passage!

Ruth wrote: "I like Emerson's poem, I would like to read more.
He is quite the observer of Thoreau and his ways,
like someone he has never met. Emerson was
superb in his description of Thoreau."

Emerson wrote some really nice poetry...I must admit that a lot of them don't really ring true for me, at least at this point, but maybe someday I'll learn to appreciate them. :) There are several that I find extremely beautiful though, and 'Wood Notes' is one of them. He does describe Thoreau very well. The first time I read it I didn't know it was about Thoreau but guessed it as I was reading!
Thoreau was sort of a "disciple" of Emerson's, though I believe they had some differences later on. 'Wood Notes' was written after Thoreau's death, however.

I only got a few pages read today...hopefully I'll get further tomorrow! :)

Ruth wrote: "Chapter 1: Economy Page 9-10 Standard Ebook
https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/hen...

[spoilers removed]

*WOW! 👏👏👏 This is so true
This is a loaded passage!"

I read that passage this morning, Ruth. A lot to think about for sure!!

The first chapter (Economy) is a long one! I was reading in it early this morning and when I came to this passage I just had to get out for a walk in the woods. :)

(view spoiler)[To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! No doubt, many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight, or woodchoppers going to their work. It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.
So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express! I well-nigh sunk all my capital in it, and lost my own breath into the bargain, running in the face of it. If it had concerned either of the political parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in the Gazette with the earliest intelligence. At other times watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new arrival; or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall, that I might catch something, though I never caught much, and that, manna-wise, would dissolve again in the sun. (hide spoiler)]

I'm finding the Economy chapter giving me a lot of food for thought.

Yeah like some scones...

Meg wrote: "The first chapter (Economy) is a long one! I was reading in it early this morning and when I came to this passage I just had to get out for a walk in the woods. :)

To anticipate, not the sunrise ..."

Meg wrote: "The first chapter (Economy) is a long one! I was reading in it early this morning and when I came to this passage I just had to get out for a walk in the woods. :)

To anticipate, not the sunrise ..."

I am the same way about this*, even more so in autumn: 🍁
(view spoiler)["So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, *trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express! (hide spoiler)]

Emma wrote: "Yeah like some scones..."

😄-Haa haa! I'll bring the tea! ☕☕☕☕☕☕

Doreen wrote: "I'm finding the Economy chapter giving me a lot of food for thought."

Hi Doreen,
Exactly my thought. I can only read ten pages per day.
My highlighter is is well engaged.

Sounds great Ruth! ;D

Ruth wrote: "Doreen wrote: "I'm finding the Economy chapter giving me a lot of food for thought."

Hi Doreen,
Exactly my thought. I can only read ten pages per day.
My highlighter is is well engaged."

Ruth I can usually do more than 10 pages but it depends on how my reading on my other 2 books is going and my housework. Whatever I do though I thoroughly enjoy.

My copy is marked up from previous readings, and now I'm finding even more. I'm so glad to be reading this again! :)
Ruth, you are truly a kindred spirit! Sometimes when I'm reading I'll come to a passage that is so full of meaning and beauty, I just set the book aside and mull over it for a day or more. I think it was Charles Lamb who said of some poem he'd read, that he "lived on it for six months"!

Emma wrote: "Yeah like some scones..."

Lol Emma! :D How are you liking this so far?

I've only read chapter one, but it's really interesting. I can't to read more! :)

Emma wrote: "I've only read chapter one, but it's really interesting. I can't to read more! :)"

Wow, if you've read the whole first chapter I think you're ahead of the rest of us! :)

How far does the first chapter go?

Is the second chapter called Reading?

Without looking at my copy, I'm going to say around 70 pages? It varies of course depending on the edition.

Emma wrote: "Is the second chapter called Reading?"

That's the third chapter. The second is called 'Where I Lived, and What I Lived For'.

Ohhhh... No I've not read all of chapter one. Oops. XD I'm reading an audio version of it, because my dad can't find the book. It's still packed somewhere...

Emma wrote: "Ohhhh... No I've not read all of chapter one. Oops. XD I'm reading an audio version of it, because my dad can't find the book. It's still packed somewhere..."

Lol that's ok! I honestly don't know how you would tell where you're at on an audio! Is your dad a Thoreau lover too?

Meg wrote: "Emma wrote: "Ohhhh... No I've not read all of chapter one. Oops. XD I'm reading an audio version of it, because my dad can't find the book. It's still packed somewhere..."

Lol that's ok! I honestl..."

I just got it on ebook as well so I can tell which chapter I'm on. 😂
Yes my dad loves Thoreau!

Emma wrote: "I just got it on ebook as well so I can tell which chapter I'm on. 😂
Yes my dad loves Thoreau! ..."

That's great (both that you found an ebook and that your dad loves Thoreau)! :D

:D

Still in 'Economy'...these were a few of my favorite passages today. :)

(view spoiler)[But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; will they not?

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. (hide spoiler)] (view spoiler)[From the hearth to the field is a great distance. It would be well perhaps if we were to spend more of our days and nights without any obstruction between us and the celestial bodies, if the poet did not speak so much from under a roof, or the saint dwell there so long. Birds do not sing in caves, nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots. (hide spoiler)]

I just started reading Walden and I am enthralled thus far. I had read his "On Civil Disobedience" in the past and have attempted his book on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, but I have never read Walden. I'm still in "Economy" but I am reading slowly to savor every word.

Tim wrote: "I just started reading Walden and I am enthralled thus far. I had read his "On Civil Disobedience" in the past and have attempted his book on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, but I have never read..."

Glad you are enjoying it, Tim! I think all of us are savoring it...there is just so much to ponder. The only other one of Thoreau's books I've read in its entirety so far is The Maine Woods. Eventually I hope to read everything he wrote.

I'm starting to wonder if it is really necessary to hide spoilers in this thread? I felt a little inconsistent earlier when I hid both my passages here and then shared one of them on my progress update for all the world to see! :D It's not like this is a novel where you could spoil what's going to happen next in the story, and it's basically impossible to tell whether you've already read so far or not before clicking on the spoiler since page numbers will be different in different editions. So maybe we should just say what chapter we're quoting from? Thoughts anyone? :)

Sounds fine to me?

I really like Thoreau's thoughts on clothing. There is a lot of truth there, but he does seem a little 'way out there' sometimes! It does seem as though he likes to ramble.

Emma wrote: "Sounds fine to me?"

Ok it's official then, hiding spoilers not required for Walden. :)

Margaret wrote: "I really like Thoreau's thoughts on clothing. There is a lot of truth there, but he does seem a little 'way out there' sometimes! It does seem as though he likes to ramble."

My thoughts exactly, Margaret! And yet his writing is so beautiful and you never know when he is going to burst out with some glorious gem of truth. :)