Walden, or Life in the Woods

[Ben Ruset]

I just finished reading Walden. Even though it's over one hundred and fifty years old and the prose is a bit difficult to follow at times, it was a great read. Thoreau was pretty progressive - very interested in Eastern philosophy at a time when it was still largely unknown to folks in America. The ideals permeate his writing. At other points he does complain about his contemporaries living in nearby Concord, Mass. a little too much. He seems to look down his nose at them more often than not.

What was really great was his observations of life in the woods. The activities of the animals - dramatically the battle between the red and black ants he witnessed, as well as the birds. Back in Thoreau's time Canadian Geese actually still migrated, and he called them more cosmopolitan than Americans because they break fast in Canada, take a lunch on the Erie, and then sleep in the Bayous of Louisiana.

He also does a lot of writing about the geology of Walden Pond itself. I felt like I was listening to Gabe talk about the Mullica, or Spung-Man talking about the Pines.

I sort of want to rebuild Nash's cabin and live in the woods for two years and see if I can write something so good.

 

[46er]

"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." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

You can visit Walden Pond if your so inclined, it is a Massachusetts owned state reservsation. I stopped once, very briefly on my way to Boston on a business trip. They have a reconstruction of the very small house he built and lived in.

 

[Boyd]

I sort of want to rebuild Nash's cabin and live in the woods for two years and see if I can write something so good.

A writer moves to a remote cabin in the woods to get away from it all and work on his novel. Then late one night he sees something bizarre that he can't explain....

I think I've seen this movie before.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Been awhile since I read Walden, but I always told myself I'd revisit it one day. I was reading some Emerson yesterday. "The American Scholar". Terrific read!

"All sound heard at the greatest possible distance produces one and the same effect, a vibration of the universal lyre." - Thoreau (Walden)

 

[manumuskin]

Always liked Thoreau,Emerson went way over my head.Muir was always my favorite.Walden was way too close to the city for me.Muir got out there.Kinda like a Thoreau and Merriwether Lewis combined.

 

[glowordz]

I enjoyed much of Walden, especially sections such as "Sounds," "Solitude," "The Pond in Winter," and "Spring." IMO, however, Boyd's A Pine Barrens Odyssey is more accessible, more sparkling, and less introverted.

I certainly can identify with Thoreau's interest in swamps and bogs. "Would it not be a luxury to stand up to one's chin in some retired swamp for a whole summer's day?" he wrote. Great idea! He would have loved the Barrens.

Glo

 

[Boyd]

Was in an antique store a few days ago and saw an old paperback version of Walden. Been thinking I should read it for awhile actually, so this seemed like some kind of a sign. Am slowly working my way through; it's difficult. But then I'll find a passage that makes it all worthwhile. Not quite sure what to make of it yet though.

 

[strom]

i was born near concord,mass,and worked as lifeguard at walden back when they had a public beach...........clear,cold water.......pretty place..........yes,walden is slow reading.............thoreau is great when he sticks to nature............when he wades into philosophy,it gets terribly deep...........skip those parts..............he has always been one of my heroes...........youre right,he would have loved the pines

 

[Ben Ruset]

I didn't mind the philosophy - I just thought that he was a little too hash on the townsfolk in Concord.

 

[Boyd]

The first chapter reminded me a bit of Jim Morrison yelling "You're all a bunch of f**king slaves!" at his audience.

 

[piker56]

I honestly don't know much personnally about these people, but were they rich? Most of us are middle class workers who have families to support, and we need to work in "the world" to support them. The pines are my weekend retreat to refresh myself, but I could never consider moving into the pines "find myself". It's 2011 and the world just doesn't operate that way. I get out into the pines as much as I can, but to move into the woods like Thoreau is just not an option for me, or most of us I would guess. Our weekend excursions have to satisfy our urges to get back to nature. Then, unfortunately it's back to work on Monday morning.

 

[Gibby]

The act of moving into the pines to "find myself" was a romantic notion, as in being idealistic, amorous, or soulful.

 

[Boyd]

"But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. The man who independently plucked the fruits when he was hungry is become a farmer; and he who stood under a tree for shelter, a housekeeper. We now no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven."

--Walden, "Shelter"

 

[Ben Ruset]

I honestly don't know much personnally about these people, but were they rich? Most of us are middle class workers who have families to support, and we need to work in "the world" to support them. The pines are my weekend retreat to refresh myself, but I could never consider moving into the pines "find myself". It's 2011 and the world just doesn't operate that way. I get out into the pines as much as I can, but to move into the woods like Thoreau is just not an option for me, or most of us I would guess. Our weekend excursions have to satisfy our urges to get back to nature. Then, unfortunately it's back to work on Monday morning.

Thoreau's family owned a pencil factory, and he actually made a lot of advances in pencil technology. But, yes, back in the 1840's it was much easier to "live off the land" than it is now. If you want to disappear off into the woods you're giving up a lifestyle that is far more lavish, even if you're lower middle class, than what Thoreau gave up for two years.

 

[bobpbx]

.....but to move into the woods like Thoreau is just not an option for me, or most of us I would guess

I sometimes I think it would only take a small push for me. Lately, more so.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I sometimes I think it would only take a small push for me. Lately, more so.

You already live in Bamber. How much far away would you, or could you, get?

 

[Gibby]

I sometimes I think it would only take a small push for me. Lately, more so.

Your not the only one feeling this way.

 

[bobpbx]

You already live in Bamber. How much far away would you, or could you, get?

Well, lets consider. Suppose the owner of Sim Place were to say; "Hey, I've decided I'd like a caretaker living out there, and I'll let you build a place to live anywhere on the property"

Hard to turn down, right?

I'd have about 6 big dogs if I could still afford to feed em.

You know, it's just a small dream....and if offered, maybe I'd back off after considering being away from family and conveniences. Thats just the way life is. All hat and no cattle.

 

[Boyd]

Yeah, I doubt that any of us would really be willing to do without our internet, TV, cell phone, car and other modern conveniences for very long.... especially for two years. And if you met such a person, you'd probably be suspicious. How about this?...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/05/unabomber-land-for-sale-montana_n_792232.html

 

[MarkBNJ]

Yeah, I doubt that any of us would really be willing to do without our internet, TV, cell phone, car and other modern conveniences for very long.... especially for two years. And if you met such a person, you'd probably be suspicious. How about this?...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/05/unabomber-land-for-sale-montana_n_792232.html

No more than civilized people anywhere have wanted, for a few thousand years now, to give up their established habitation and productive fields for Thoreau's vision of heaven as a woodland hunter/gather . Hey, where would we be without our few, but always highly entertaining, incurable romantics?