Within the Circuit of This Plodding Life (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry David Thoreau
- First Published: 1842
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
Henry David Thoreau’s “Within the Circuit of This Plodding Life” is a one-stanza meditation of thirty lines in which the poet recalls specific moments in his life when natural phenomena—the icicles of winter, the “shimmering noon” of summer, the recently plowed fields covered in a blanket of snow—renewed his spirit. Such a renewal offers him the courage to move on with the business of living.
The speaker fortifies the idea by establishing a contrast between the “circuit” of his ordinary, “plodding life” and the cycle of nature represented...
[The entire page is 1463 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
