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In Walden, how does Thoreau use literary elements to express his closeness to nature?
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In Walden, Thoreau uses metaphors, similes, personification, and imagery to express his closeness to nature. He personifies Nature, likening his early rising to assisting the sun. He uses biblical and Greco-Roman allusions to convey his reverence. Imagery, such as "suck the marrow of life" and personifying the lake, helps readers visualize his intimate connection with nature.
In Walden, Thoreau uses literary elements such as metaphor, simile, comparison, quotation of other texts, personification, and even sometimes satire to show that he grew closer to nature. For instance, he says,
To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! ... It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.
Thoreau personifies Nature here, expressing his early rising to greet her. He likens his closeness to nature to assisting the sun to rise, which he admits that he never did “materially,” but it was of upmost importance to him to be up to witness the sunrise.
He likens Nature, which he capitalizes...
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throughout the book, to a religion. More precisely,being close to Nature was a religion for Thoreau, who uses biblical allusions in several places. He worships Nature, sometimes seemingly in a pantheistic way. He uses biblical allusion frequently. For instances, he writes:
…watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree… or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall, that I might catch something, though I never caught much, and that, manna-wise, would dissolve again in the sun.
He watches the sky and waits for the manna, which is a direct allusion to the Bible and the manna that fell from the heavens. So important is the sky to Thoreau that he spent hours waiting and watching and treated it like a religious experience.
He also says,
Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself. I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks. I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did.
Here, Thoreau uses literary allusion by citing Aurora and the Greeks, as well as incorporating a religious metaphor. In Greco-Roman mythology, Aurora was the personification of the dawn. Thoreau is also using metaphor to express his closeness to and the importance of Nature to him when he says that his daily bathing in Walden Pond “was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did.” The reader is not meant to infer that Thoreau was actually worshipping Walden the way ancient peoples might worship elements of nature, but that Thoreau is conveying how in awe he is of Nature and how he grew close to Nature through his time at Walden.
At other times, he likens his project of living closely with Nature to a business enterprise. Through this metaphor, he conveys the importance of Nature to his daily routine. Specifically, just as others work at their fields or in their offices every day, he “works” at being close to Nature. He writes,
So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express! I well-nigh sunk all my capital in it…
In another instance, he says, “for many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms, and did my duty faithfully.” This reflects the use of satire, as well. The reader knows that Thoreau cannot inspect snow storms or rain storms for a living the way a railroad inspector might inspect the railways or trains.
His allusion to sinking his capital into Nature or carrying Natures’ news express accomplishes a dual role. First, as noted, it is a simile that likens his enterprise of being at Walden to a business. Secondly, he also casts aspersions on the modern devices of the industrial age that he deplores, such as the telegraph or the railroad ("carry it express").
Thoreau used the literary devices of metaphors and similes to show his intimacy with nature and to suggest connections between man and the natural world. A metaphor compares two things that are usually considered dissimilar, often by using the word is.
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. (Walden, “The Ponds”)
Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads. (Walden, “The Pond in Winter”)
A simile compares two things by using the word like.
The whistle of the locomotive penetrates my woods summer and winter, sounding like the scream of a hawk sailing over some farmer’s yard. (Walden, “Sounds”)
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. (Walden, “Economy”)
By adding these associations, Thoreau prodded his readers to think of the ways in which we are like nature, or nature is like us. A lake is like a human eye. The train whistle sounds like a hawk. Our personalities are as delicate and as easily bruised as fresh pieces of fruit. We are not so different. Or, he got people to look more closely at nearby nature. He could see the clouds reflected on the surface of the pond and could instantly claim that “Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.” He didn’t have to travel to exotic places to find these wonderful sights. He had only to pay attention to what he saw in his walks every day. He expected others to be similarly watchful.