Walking Flashcards
by Henry David Thoreau — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Walking
What two etymologies does Thoreau offer for the word 'sauntering'?
He traces it to 'a la Sainte Terre' (to the Holy Land), describing medieval pilgrims, and alternatively to 'sans terre' (without land), meaning equally at home everywhere.
How many hours per day does Thoreau say he must spend walking to preserve his health and spirits?
At least four hours a day sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.
What direction does Thoreau say he naturally and inevitably walks when he leaves his house?
Southwest or west. He says his needle always settles between west and south-southwest, symbolizing his belief that the future and wildness lie westward.
What did Thoreau discover when he climbed a tall white pine on a hilltop?
He found minute, delicate red cone-like blossoms at the very top that no farmer, hunter, or lumber-dealer had ever noticed, illustrating how Nature finishes her finest work above our heads.
What remarkable natural event does Thoreau describe near the end of the essay?
A November sunset that cast the softest morning-like light on a meadow, transforming ordinary withered grass into a golden paradise and making the west side of every wood gleam like the boundary of Elysium.
How does Thoreau compare the panorama of the Rhine with the panorama of the Mississippi?
The Rhine evoked the romance of the past with its ruins and legends, while the Mississippi represented the heroic age of the present and future, with castles yet to be built and bridges yet to be thrown.
What does Thoreau say you must be ready to do before you are truly ready for a walk?
You must be ready to leave father, mother, brother, sister, wife, child, and friends and never see them again -- to have paid your debts, made your will, and become a free man.
What order does Thoreau say he and his companion belong to?
The order of Walkers -- not Equestrians or Chevaliers or Riders, but a more ancient and honorable class. He calls himself a 'Walker, Errant,' a fourth estate outside of Church, State, and People.
How does Thoreau characterize most of his townsmen's relationship to walking?
They claim they would walk but cannot; no wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence. He says it requires 'a direct dispensation from Heaven' to become a walker.
Who does Thoreau describe as the invisible inhabitants of Spaulding's Farm?
A mysterious, ancient family who seemed to recline on sunbeams in a pine wood, whose coat of arms was a lichen, who had no politics and no noise of labor -- representing Nature's serene spiritual presence.
What does Thoreau say about Wordsworth's study, as told by the poet's servant?
When a traveller asked to see Wordsworth's study, the servant showed the library and said 'his study is out of doors,' reinforcing Thoreau's point that true thought happens while walking in nature.
How does Thoreau's central declaration 'in Wildness is the preservation of the World' connect to the essay's argument?
It anchors his claim that civilization draws its vitality from wild nature. He supports it with examples from Rome's founding myth to the primitive forests that sustained great nations.
How does Thoreau use the contrast between East and West to structure his argument about civilization?
East represents the past, history, and established culture, while West represents the future, wildness, and unrealized potential. He says we go eastward to study art but westward with a spirit of enterprise and adventure.
What does Thoreau mean by advocating for a 'Society for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance'?
He argues that accumulated factual knowledge ('so-called knowledge') is often a conceit that robs us of genuine wisdom. True understanding comes from sympathy with intelligence, not from memorizing facts.
What is Thoreau's argument about the relationship between wildness and literature?
He claims only the wild in literature attracts us -- the uncivilized free thinking in Homer and Shakespeare. Even English literature is 'essentially tame,' and he calls for a poet who can nail words to their primitive senses.
What is the significance of Thoreau's metaphor comparing his walks to a 'parabola' or 'cometary orbit'?
It suggests his walks are non-returning curves opening westward, with his house as the sun -- implying that true walking is not circular but an ever-expanding trajectory toward wildness and the unknown.
How does Thoreau use the Atlantic Ocean as a metaphor?
He calls it a 'Lethean stream' -- a river of forgetfulness from Greek mythology -- suggesting that crossing to America offered the chance to forget Old World institutions and start fresh.
What literary form does 'Walking' take, and how does its origin as a lecture shape its style?
It is a personal essay developed from lectures Thoreau delivered many times. Its direct address ('you'), rhetorical questions, and persuasive tone reflect its origins as a spoken address to an audience.
How does Thoreau use the image of the swamp as a symbol throughout the essay?
He calls swamps sacred places (sanctum sanctorum) representing Nature's marrow and strength, preferring them over cultivated gardens. He argues a town is saved by its surrounding swamps as much as by its righteous citizens.
What is the effect of Thoreau's closing image of sauntering 'toward the Holy Land'?
It circles back to the essay's opening etymology of 'sauntering' and elevates walking into a spiritual pilgrimage, envisioning a day when light will shine into our minds as warmly as the November sunset on the meadow.
What does the Latin phrase 'Ambulator nascitur, non fit' mean in the context of Thoreau's argument?
'The walker is born, not made.' Thoreau uses it to argue that true walking is an innate calling, not something that can be acquired through wealth or leisure.
What does Thoreau mean by 'Ex Oriente lux; ex Occidente FRUX'?
'From the East, light; from the West, fruit.' He contrasts the East as a source of intellectual and cultural illumination with the West as the source of practical abundance and future possibility.
What does 'Gramatica parda' (tawny grammar) refer to in the essay?
A Spanish term for wild, instinctive knowledge -- a kind of mother-wit derived from nature rather than from books, which Thoreau contrasts with formal education.
What does Thoreau mean by the word 'vespertinal' when describing aging?
Relating to evening. He says that as a man grows older, he becomes vespertinal in his habits, coming out only before sundown and needing only half an hour's walk.
What is the significance of Thoreau's statement: 'I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness'?
This opening sentence announces his thesis and rhetorical purpose: to champion Nature and wildness against a civilization that has 'enough champions' already in ministers, school-committees, and ordinary citizens.
What does Thoreau mean when he writes, 'Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest'?
He equates vitality with wildness -- the most alive beings are those least subdued by civilization. Wildness is not mere savagery but the essential energy that refreshes and sustains all life.
What is Thoreau arguing when he writes, 'Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present'?
Near the essay's conclusion, he insists that clinging to past habits and thoughts makes us 'rusty and antique.' He uses the cock's crow as a symbol of living fully in each present moment.