Walden literary criticism

introduction

Walden: an ecocritical study

Henry David Thoreau is an American transcendentalist, social reformer, poet and philosopher. He was one of America’s most important environmentalists. His best description of himself and his works is his saying “My profession is always to be on the alert to find God in Nature, to know his lurking-places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas, of nature.” He has a passion for exploring deeper meaning in nature. He wrote in his journal “what we call wildness is a civilization other than our own … in wildness is the preservation of the world.” He did not get much attention during his lifetime, but today he is praised as the most powerful voice of the natural environment.

Thoreau’s book Walden is about his experiment in basic living in nature. He stayed for two years and two months at Walden Pond (1845-47) outside Concord Massachusetts writing his book before returning to society. It was published in 1854. It consists of eighteenth chapters celebrating solitude, simplicity, and living close to nature. He began and ended his journey in spring. He states his beliefs about society and environment, saying that to simplify their lives; people need to not work as hard as they do and follow their instincts. He wants to have a life of “voluntary poverty” for himself, that have only the basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. He criticizes society for its emptiness spirituality and people obsession with clothing, travel, fancy houses, and the use of animal labor. He builds his own small cabin, earns some money by working in his bean field. He celebrates becoming a part of nature when he chooses where to live. His purpose was of going to the woods is as he states, “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” taking nature as his model. He thinks that a man must be a seer and listener and always alert to nature. After being transformed by his experience there, Thoreau concludes that with spiritual awareness and reference for nature, new life can rise out of an individual.

The suitable theory that would clarify the symbolic meaning of nature/environment in Walden is ecocriticism. Ecocriticism is “the study of the relationship between literature and environment” (Glotfelty xviii) from an interdisciplinary point of view. It has other names such as green (cultural) studies, ecopoetic and environmental literary criticism. Ecocritics endeavor to explore the hidden environmental qualities and concern. They are concerned about finding the significance of the word 'nature' and whether the examination of "place" should be a separate category like class or race.

William Rueckert was the first to coin the term ‘ecocriticism’ in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism” which he published in 1987. He aimed to stress on “the application of ecology and ecological concepts to the study of literature.” Later, it was studied by other works such as Raymond William’s The Country and the City (1973) and Joseph Meeker’s The Comedy of Survival (1974).

Raymond William contributed a great deal in this field by composing his book Country and the City (1973). It is considered as a brilliant work mirroring many years of doubt and ideological avoidances of this genre. He proceeded to maintain unambiguous green socialism.

Joseph Meeker's is an author who is considered as another antecedent of ecocritical writing. He composed an ecocritical text, The Comedy of Survival (1974), which is likewise a new content in this field. In his book, he argues that the reason behind an environmental crisis is the cultural tradition in the west of the separation of culture from nature.

So, there are many authors who have contributed in this field and Henry David Thoreau is one such author who has demonstrated his concern for nature as a physical environment in his text Walden.

To explore the research questions, the paper employed an ecocritical study of the physical environment in Walden. The paper is divided into two chapters: the first chapter is an analysis of the depiction of nature in Walden through Thoreau’s eyes. The second chapter looks at the representation of nature as a discipline to human beings.

There are no in-depth studies that consider Walden as an ecocritical text. Lots has been written about it, but most researchers are focusing on treating the text as a transcendentalist text. The paper will attempt to fill the void of the studies by viewing the text an ecocritical text. This paper is going to provide an analysis of Walden as a natural environment that is used to discipline human beings.

the first chapter is an analysis of the depiction of nature in Walden through Thoreau’s eyes.

Drafts chapter one

- According to the dictionary nature is not only “the material world, especially as surrounding humankind and existing independently of human activities,” but also as “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.” While Raymond William definition of the term ‘nature’ carries three possible meanings. The first refers to the “character of something”, the second to the force that runs the world and human beings, the third to the actual material world itself.

- Thoreau’s concept of nature ….

- His experience at Walden Pond confirms his fond of nature and his belief that living on harmony with nature is essential. In “solitude” he declares that one can never be alone in nature, portraying it as a benevolent force that can provide human beings important lesson if it was studied carefully.

“At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of Nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and Titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets.” (Thoreau-p)

· He asserts that all living things have rights that human beings should value and respect rather than destroy them. (The Maine Woods-62)

Thoreau’s choice of being close to nature is the best part of choosing where to live. His first impression of the pond, which is sometimes covered with fog in the early morning and sometimes clear when there is a gentle rain, is like a “lower heaven,” with the skyline and mountain spreading out behind it.

Analysis that could help

1. For Thoreau, being close to nature is the best part of his choice of place to live. Acquiring the material possession of a house is something he must put up with in order to live in nature.

What is nature to Thoreau?

being close to nature is the best part of his choice of place to live.

For Thoreau, nature provides everything he needs

Nature supplied man's first home

Thoreau's close observation of nature testifies to his profound relationship with it,

Thoreau's catalogue of sounds is evidence to his alertness to his surroundings and the pleasure he takes in the variety and simplicity of nature.

1. Nature supplied man's first home, caves. Later, shelter began to be thought of as encompassing man's need for other people. Considering the boxes by the railroad and wigwams as possible shelters underscores Thoreau's commitment to discovering the barest possible necessities of life. He believes that simplicity can free people from the lives they think they want but that actually limit them.

1. Thoreau takes pleasure in the building of his house, seeing no distinction between work and leisure. He sees in birds a natural model for how to work, as they take physical labor to be a source of spiritual richness. He wants men to be self-reliant so each can experience this kind of beauty. He sees simplicity as true beauty, separated from appearances.

1. Planting a small amount of land with crops is the simplest way to make just enough money, Thoreau believes, as opposed to the Concord farmers, who try to make a lot of money and restrict themselves in the process. For Thoreau, nature provides everything he needs, including the chance to make his own livelihood, and to do so simply.

1. Thoreau's first impression of the pond, which is sometimes misty in the early morning, sometimes still and clear as when there is a gentle rain, is that it is like a "lower heaven," with the vista and mountains spreading out behind it. Thoreau's close observation of nature testifies to his profound relationship with it, characterized both by awe of its spiritual greatness and intimacy with its everyday workings.

1. Morning is Thoreau's invitation to make his life simple and commune with nature. Every morning he bathes in the pond, calling it a "religious exercise." He calls morning the time that all important events, including poetry and art, occur. It is the time that "intelligences wake," as say the Vedas. Nature is his spiritual guide, leading him in its simple natural rhythms toward his own spiritual path and his proper work.

1. After the train passes, Thoreau is more alone than ever, he writes. He listens to the bells of the nearby towns, the lowing of cows that he experiences as great music, the clucking of birds, the melancholy hoots of owls which sound like men moaning in grief, the rolling of wagons, the bark of dogs. He celebrates that there are no domesticated sounds, not even a tea kettle, and "no path to the civilized world." Thoreau's catalogue of sounds is evidence to his alertness to his surroundings and the pleasure he takes in the variety and simplicity of nature.

1. Thoreau does his work in the bean-field daily, in the early morning. The pigeons and hawks and other birds that fly overhead while he works, as well as the other animals, offer him "inexhaustible entertainment." From the town on festival days he can hear music and the sound of guns firing, which he says sound "as far away as Palestine." Meanwhile, Thoreau is at war with the weeds that threaten his beans.

1. Every day or two, Thoreau goes to the village to hear the gossip, which he finds refreshing, like the sound of the leaves or frogs. He describes the village as a home of certain kinds of animals, just as the woods are. Walking through the village is like running the gauntlet, he says, with people from every direction trying to talk to you and draw you into their shops, and sometimes Thoreau escapes quickly back into the woods, sometimes very late at night, when he has to find his way back blindly. Getting lost in the woods makes one appreciate "the vastness and strangeness of nature," he says. Thoreau's way of enjoying the society of the village is to think of it as just another part of nature. He describes the gossip of the villagers not in terms of what they said, but in terms of the sounds they made, like the sounds of the leaves or frogs. When the village is overwhelming, he retreats into his natural home, familiar even as it is strange.

1. The features of the landscape in the woods are humble, Thoreau writes, but Walden Pond is remarkable. It is deep, pure, sometimes blue and sometimes green, not very abundant in fish besides pickerel, has an irregular shore, and is inhabited peacefully by ducks and geese and frogs and other wildlife, like White Pond, a nearby pond it resembles. Thoreau drinks from the pond, and remembers coming to the pond before he lived there to light a fire by the shore. He sometimes goes fishing on the pond with a companion but they do not talk on the boat, and experience an "unbroken harmony" between them that is better than if they had spoken. Thoreau's extensive, closely observed descriptions of the pond show his deep reverence for it and the spiritual grandeur he believes it has as a part of nature. When he goes out fishing with his companion but they stay silent, he is able to have a kind of solitude in the company of another person just as he is able to have solitude in nature.

1. There are tracks around the pond that, Thoreau thinks, were made by aboriginal hunters. According to an Indian fable, a group was holding a pow-wow on a hill and were using profanity, when suddenly the hill they were on sank and became a depression and swallowed up the whole group except for one person, a woman named Walden. Thoreau describes the pond as "earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature." To him, the water is "as sacred as the Ganges," yet the villagers merely pump it into town to wash their dishes. Thoreau thinks of himself as having a kind of connection with the aboriginal hunters of the past, who respected the land and had a sense of its spiritual value. The Indian's sense of the pond as holy is made clear in the fable, in which those who curses near the pond were swallowed up. But the villagers also belittle the pond, not by cursing near it but by seeing it only as something they can use to wash their dishes, and therefore not appreciating or even noticing its sacred beauty. In contrast, Thoreau believes he can learn about himself by looking into the pond.

1. About a mile way from Walden Pond, there is Flint's, also called Sandy Pond, which is much larger and more shallow, less pure, and has more fish. Thoreau laments that pond's boring name and wishes that natural features were named not after the farmers who happened to live there but after the animals that live there. Nearby, Goose Pond is small, the "lesser twin of Walden" and very similar to it, but free of boats because there are no fish in it to catch. Thoreau says, "Nature has no human inhabitant that appreciates her." Thoreau believes that nature is pure and belongs to no one and therefore should not be profaned by having a name of some unimportant farmer, or any other human. In commenting how Goose Pond has no human admirer, Thoreau reveals himself as someone who strives to be a human inhabitant that does appreciate nature.

1. The first ice that forms over the pond, Thoreau says, is hard, dark, and transparent, and through it he studies the bottom of the pond and the bubbles in between the ice. He marks the date it first snowed and the date the pond freezes over completely. He takes pleasure in the work of collecting firewood, one of the commodities that society values that even he cannot do without. Normally he leaves his fire burning in the house while he is gone, though once his bed linens caught fire. Luckily, he extinguished them before major damage was done. He likes to look into the fire and says you can always see a face there. Nature is Thoreau's companion. He observes it closely and, when it drives him inside, he appreciates its rhythms, respects its power, and finds company even in the fire. Firewood, and the warmth it gives, is a necessity, so Thoreau shares his need for it with those who live in society.

1. One night, Thoreau says, he woke up with questions on his mind but was quieted by serene nature outside his window, which asks no questions and answers none either. He goes out to the pond in search of water to drink, making his way through snow and ice. As he drinks, he declares that "heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." For Thoreau, Nature is perfectly peaceful, an expression of spiritual serenity that is proof it is greater than humankind. It is full of surprises even to him, who is constantly alert to it.