Walden Group

Question:

poem
poem
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What's being compared in Thoreau's "Conclusion": "Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"?

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Posted by poem on Wednesday November 26, 2008 at 4:21 PM and tagged with compare, quote, walden.

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  1. timbrady Teacher
    College - Senior

    eNotes Editor

    This quote refers to "marching" to the beat you hear, regardless of whether it is music closely heard by many or far away, and only heard by you.  It refers to the fact that marchers (band, soldiers, us) are controlled by the beat they hear.  Thoreau was always concerned with individuality, maintaining a sense of who you are even if you hear a different "music" than those around you.  

    This quote becomes clearer if we consider the sentence that comes just before the one mentioned above:  "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."  The drummer is responsible for maintaining the beat in a marching band; if your personal drummer keeps a different beat than that of the crowd, Thoreau urges you to march to that beat, not the one that everyone else hears.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/walden/themes

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    Posted by timbrady on Wednesday November 26, 2008 at 4:39 PM