Walden (Three of the Essays)

After reading three more of the essays in Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, I've decided to write about "The Ponds" in this blog post.

Thoreau makes some purposeful illustrations in this essay that stood out to me. He describes, "It seemed as if I might next cast my line upward into the air, as well as downward into this element, which was scarcely more dense. Thus I caught two fishes as it were with one hook." I think that this is a great statement about how he has connected himself to Nature and to his Spirit. Walden Pond is a sacred place to Thoreau. For two years at Walden, Thoreau can now describe in detail everything about the pond, including the colors, the depth, the shores, the fish, etc. He recounts the adventure of throwing his axe onto the ice and then having to make a slip-noose to pull it out of the frozen pond.

Walden is not only an important place for Thoreau but it is a person, a friend. He personifies the pond by saying, "These are the lips of the lake, on which no beard grows. It licks its chaps from time to time." He retells the tale of how the pond got its name: "...and while they were thus engaged the hill shook and suddenly sank, and only one old squaw, named Walden, escaped, and from her the pond was named." He even makes fun of the nearby ponds,"Flint's Pond!...What right had the unclean and stupid farmer, whose farm abutted on this sky water, whose shores he has ruthlessly laid bare, to give his name to it?"

"Talk of heaven! ye disgrace earth." - Thoreau

Above all, Thoreau describes in detail this pond I have never been to and points out how beautiful it is in Nature. He portrays, "Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples, in lines of beauty, as it were the constant welling up of its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving of its breast. How peaceful the phenomena of the lake!" Even though Thoreau (hahaha that wordplay!) is writing more so for himself, to journal his thoughts and discoveries, he illustrates experiences that we have all witnessed but forget about over time.