Chapter IX: The Ponds Practice Quiz — Walden Pond
by Henry David Thoreau — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter IX: The Ponds
What does Thoreau say about huckleberries at the start of Chapter IX?
He says their true flavor can only be obtained by picking them yourself. A huckleberry never reaches Boston because its essential quality is lost when rubbed off in the market cart.
How does Thoreau describe his nighttime fishing on Walden Pond?
He fishes by moonlight from a boat, anchored in forty feet of water, surrounded by perch dimpling the surface, feeling connected to "mysterious nocturnal fishes" through his line while his thoughts wander to cosmic themes.
What are the physical dimensions of Walden Pond as Thoreau describes them?
It is half a mile long, a mile and three quarters in circumference, about sixty-one and a half acres, with no visible inlet or outlet. The surrounding hills rise forty to one hundred fifty feet.
How does Thoreau retrieve his axe after it slides into a hole in the ice?
He cuts another hole directly over it, cuts a long birch pole, attaches a slip-noose to the end, passes it over the axe handle knob, and draws it up by a line along the birch.
What Indian legend does Thoreau recount about the origin of Walden Pond?
Indians held a pow-wow on a hill that rose as high as the pond now sinks deep. The hill shook and sank, and only one old woman named Walden escaped, giving the pond its name.
How does the pond rise and fall over time according to Thoreau?
It rises and falls over many years, commonly higher in winter and lower in summer. He observed a difference of six or seven feet over time, requiring many years for a full cycle, with the fluctuation killing encroaching trees along the shore.
What story does an old man tell Thoreau about the pond in earlier times?
The old man recalls that sixty years ago the pond was dark with surrounding forests, alive with ducks and eagles. He used an old log canoe made of two white pine logs dug out and pinned together that he found on the shore.
What does Thoreau say has happened to the woods around Walden since he lived there?
Woodchoppers have laid them waste and the railroad has browsed off the trees. He laments that there will be no more rambling through woodland aisles, asking "How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down?"
Who is the older fishing companion Thoreau describes at the beginning of the chapter?
An excellent fisher skilled in all kinds of woodcraft who had grown deaf in his later years. He would sit in Thoreau's doorway arranging his lines and occasionally hum a psalm while they fished in harmonious silence.
Who is the farmer Thoreau attacks in his tirade about Flint's Pond?
The unnamed farmer Flint, whose farm abutted on the pond and who gave it his name. Thoreau calls him an "unclean and stupid farmer" who loved the reflecting surface of a dollar more than the water and saw nature only as a source of profit.
How does Thoreau portray himself in relation to Walden Pond?
As both a careful scientific observer and a spiritual devotee. He measures temperatures, catalogs fish species, and surveys the shore while also experiencing transcendent unity with the pond, declaring "I am its stony shore, / And the breeze that passes o'er."
Who is the "devilish Iron Horse" that Thoreau mentions?
The railroad locomotive. Thoreau personifies it as a destructive Trojan horse that has muddied the Boiling Spring and browsed off all the woods on Walden shore, carried by "mercenary Greeks" (the railroad company).
What does Walden Pond symbolize in this chapter according to Transcendentalist philosophy?
It symbolizes the ideal self or soul: deep, pure, transparent, and unchanging despite surface disturbances. Its hidden springs represent invisible sources of spiritual inspiration, and its purity represents a state uncorrupted by commerce.
How does Thoreau use the contrast between Walden Pond and Flint's Pond thematically?
Walden is deep, pure, and unnamed by any possessive owner, while Flint's Pond is shallow, less pure, and named for a greedy farmer. The contrast illustrates Thoreau's argument that nature's value is spiritual, not commercial.
What is the significance of Thoreau catching "two fishes with one hook" while night fishing?
It symbolizes the integration of Nature and Spirit. His fishing line connects him to the physical world below while his thoughts reach cosmic themes above, uniting the material and the transcendent in a single experience.
What does Thoreau mean by calling Walden and White Pond "Lakes of Light"?
He means they possess a spiritual luminosity and purity that transcends material value. Too pure to have a market price, they represent natural treasures that humanity disregards while chasing diamonds and dollars.
What extended metaphor does Thoreau build around the lake as a human face?
He calls the lake "earth's eye," the shoreline trees its "slender eyelashes," and the wooded hills its "overhanging brows." The metaphor transforms the landscape into a living face through which the beholder reads nature's character.
How does Thoreau use personification when describing Walden Pond's shoreline?
He says the pond "asserts its title to a shore" and "licks its chaps from time to time," giving the water human agency and appetite as it rises to kill encroaching vegetation and then recedes.
What classical and religious allusions does Thoreau make when praising Walden Pond?
He alludes to the Castalian Fountain of Greek mythology, the Golden Age, Eden and Adam and Eve, the sacred Ganges River, and the Icarian Sea. These elevate the pond from a local feature to a place of universal spiritual significance.
What is the effect of Thoreau's shift between scientific precision and poetic rapture?
By alternating between exact measurements (water temperature of 42 degrees, fish weights, pond acreage) and transcendent declarations ("perennially young," "liquid joy"), Thoreau demonstrates that close observation of nature leads naturally to spiritual insight.
What does Thoreau mean by "vitreous" when describing Walden's water color?
Vitreous means glassy or resembling glass. Thoreau calls the pond's color "a vitreous greenish blue," comparing it to patches of winter sky seen through cloud vistas and to the sheen of watered silks and sword blades.
What does the word "pellucid" mean in Thoreau's description of Walden's water?
Pellucid means translucently clear, allowing light to pass through. Thoreau says the water is "green and pellucid as ever," emphasizing its crystalline transparency and purity that has endured since ancient times.
What does "selvage" mean when Thoreau says Nature has "woven a natural selvage"?
A selvage is the finished edge of woven fabric that prevents unraveling. Thoreau uses it metaphorically to describe the natural border where shoreline vegetation gradually rises from low shrubs to tall trees, creating a seamless, untouched edge.
What is the full quotation when Thoreau declares the lake to be "earth's eye"?
"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."
How does Thoreau's poem at the end of the Walden Pond section express his relationship to the pond?
"I am its stony shore, / And the breeze that passes o'er; / In the hollow of my hand / Are its water and its sand, / And its deepest resort / Lies high in my thought." He claims complete spiritual unity with the pond.