Walden: Ch17 - Spring

Walden: Ch17 - Spring

1. Setting:

   • The setting takes place in a cabin near Walden Pond.

2. Chapter purpose

   • Based on this reading, Thoreau's purpose of this chapter was to highlight the many changes that happens in nature which many people do not often get to expierence. He writes this chapter in a way to inform others of all he has experienced, and also persuade others of the importance of experiencing nature.
   • A quote in this chapter which I believe summarizes Thoreau's big idea is this: "A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener" (Thoreau, 346). Nature is not simple. Some of the smallest things in nature can make great impacts, such as a gentle rain altering the grass's appearance, making the grass seem more vibrant than it already was.

3. Main Focuses/Points

   • The story starts off with a focus on the end of the winter season going into spring which Thoreau observes and described in great detail.
     • - The pond is the star of the beginning of this chapter. Thoreau describes the icy pond and mentions how he is at a time where the ice is starting to melt and crack, causing "thundering" sounds.
   • - Thoreau also goes into detail about new vegetation growing as a result to the spring and various the various colors emerging from the seasonal change.
   • Thoreau remarks that earth is not just "dead history" and explains how earth is still young with potential, with living and ever-changing beauty. He also makes a point that nature can change a person for the better.
   • Theareau also goes into detail about grass, which puts importance into the small things in nature.
     • Another small part in nature (physically speaking) which Thoreau mentions is a flying merlin. To most, it is simply a bird flying, but to Thorea it is the most ethereal flight he's ever seen.
   • When Thoreau see's a dead horse on the path to the cabin, he is relieved since he knows that the corpse of the horse will be scavened by another animal, prolonging their life, and allowing the cycle of life and death to continue. Even as some may go extinct, it means that nature will still live on for another.

4. Literary/Rhetorical Devices

   • Thoreau often uses personification, similies, and metaphors consistently throughout this chapter to describe nature. He does this to allow readers to relate, visualize, and feel what he had experienced. These literary devices together help form Thoreau's big idea, which is that nature is more than just old trees and plants, but instead a wonderous thing that can have a great impact on those who observe it and is simply something that is greatly complex.
     • (Smilie) For example, he describes the cracking of the ice from the warm spring season as a "startling whoop as loud as artillery."
     • (Personification) He also regards the changes that were occurring as "Nature's operations." Nature is normally lowercase, but the capital N put's it on a higher pedestal to be recognized and also makes it seem humanly.
     • Thoreau also makes an abundnt amount of comparisons between nature and the human body, going as far as comparing the palm of a leaf to vains.

5. What Thoreau did

   • For two years, Henry David Thoreau spent his time in a secluded cabin near the Walden Pond.