Where I Lived and What I Lived For - Thoureau
‘Where I lived and What I Lived For’ – Henry David Thoreau
Many of Henry D. Thoreau’s ideas are clearly seen in his piece of writing ‘Where I Lived and What I Lived For’. Through his work, not only do we learn about his experience in the woods at Walden Pond, but also about his values and the way he sees life, which he shares with his readers all throughout the chapter. In my opinion, of the most significant topics this chapter deals with is ‘the beauty of nature’. As said by Thoreau, "The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it". Different ideas are present in this quote. On the one hand, the author is trying to show us how he feels the morning wind is like a beautiful poem, which gives us a hint of how he feels about nature, for in the simplicity of nature he finds the beauty of life. On the other hand, Thoreau’s intention may be to criticize human materialism and skepticism, since he says that “….few are the ears that hear it”, making reference to the “poem of creation”. What he may intend to transmit to us is that, since we live our lives so busily and always worried about the most trivial things, we forget to enjoy the simple and little beautiful things in life. The following words, in my opinion, reflect this idea in a very concise way: “why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”. Through his words, and the use of rhetorical questions, he makes us readers think and reflect upon our lifestyles in a very subtle, yet clear way. In another instance of the chapter, the author lets us know the reason why he decided to move to the woods: “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”. This quote reflects two things; the first of them is the value of life, how important life is, and how the “essential facts of life” can be
Many of Henry D. Thoreau’s ideas are clearly seen in his piece of writing ‘Where I Lived and What I Lived For’. Through his work, not only do we learn about his experience in the woods at Walden Pond, but also about his values and the way he sees life, which he shares with his readers all throughout the chapter. In my opinion, of the most significant topics this chapter deals with is ‘the beauty of nature’. As said by Thoreau, "The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears that hear it". Different ideas are present in this quote. On the one hand, the author is trying to show us how he feels the morning wind is like a beautiful poem, which gives us a hint of how he feels about nature, for in the simplicity of nature he finds the beauty of life. On the other hand, Thoreau’s intention may be to criticize human materialism and skepticism, since he says that “….few are the ears that hear it”, making reference to the “poem of creation”. What he may intend to transmit to us is that, since we live our lives so busily and always worried about the most trivial things, we forget to enjoy the simple and little beautiful things in life. The following words, in my opinion, reflect this idea in a very concise way: “why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”. Through his words, and the use of rhetorical questions, he makes us readers think and reflect upon our lifestyles in a very subtle, yet clear way. In another instance of the chapter, the author lets us know the reason why he decided to move to the woods: “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”. This quote reflects two things; the first of them is the value of life, how important life is, and how the “essential facts of life” can be