The Portable Thoreau

by Thoreau, Henry David (Author); Bode, Carl (Editor/introduction)

• ISBN13: 9780140150315
• ISBN10: 0140150315
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1977-01-01
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

Henry David Thoreau dedicated his life to preserving his freedom as a man and an artist. Nature was the fountainhead of his inspiration and his refuge from what he considered the follies of society. Heedless of his friends' advice to live in a more orthodox manner, he determinedly pursued his own inner bent, which was that of a poet-philosopher, in prose and verse. Carl Bode brings together the best of Thoreau's works in The Portable Thoreau, a comprehensive collection of the writings of a unique and profoundly influential American thinker. The complete texts of Thoreau's classic works Walden and "Civil Disobedience, " as well as selections from The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, the Journal, and eighteen poems are included. Bode's introduction rounds out this compact volume, offering a thorough and informative analysis of Thoreau and the forces that shaped his life and writing.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Editor	1	(27)
Chronology	28	(3)
Natural History Of Massachusetts, 1842	31	(26)
A Winter Walk, 1843	57	(52)
The Maine Woods, 1848
The Wilds of the Penobscot	76	(12)
Life in the Wilderness	88	(21)
Civil Disobedience, 1849	109	(29)
A Week On The Concord And Merrimack Rivers, 1849	138	(435)
Poems
I Am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied	228	(2)
In the Busy Streets, Domains of Trade	230	(1)
I Knew a Man by Sight	230	(1)
Lately, Alas, I Knew a Gentle Boy	231	(2)
Each More Melodious Note I Hear	233	(1)
Independence	233	(1)
Not Unconcerned Wachusett Rears His Head	234	(1)
My Friends, Why Should We Live	234	(1)
Low in the Eastern Sky	235	(1)
Great Friend	236	(1)
Fog	237	(1)
Brother Where Dost Thou Dwell	238	(1)
This Is My Carnac, Whose Unmeasured Dome	239	(1)
Love Equals Swift and Slow	240	(1)
Though All the Fates Should Prove Unkind	240	(1)
Manhood	241	(1)
Between the Traveler and the Setting Sun	241	(1)
Nature	242	(1)
A Yankee In Canada, 1853
Concord to Montreal	243	(15)
Walden, 1854
Economy	258	(76)
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For	334	(17)
Reading	351	(12)
Sounds	363	(17)
Solitude	380	(10)
Visitors	390	(14)
The Bean Field	404	(12)
The Village	416	(6)
The Ponds	422	(26)
Baker Farm	448	(8)
Higher Laws	456	(13)
Brute Neighbors	469	(13)
Housewarming	482	(17)
Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors	499	(14)
Winter Animals	513	(11)
The Pond in Winter	524	(15)
Spring	539	(20)
Conclusion	559	(14)
Journal, 1858	573	(19)
Walking, 1862	592	(39)
Life Without Principle, 1863	631	(45)
Cape Cod, 1864
The Wellfleet Oysterman	656	(20)
The Last Days Of John Brown, 1860	676	(7)
Epilogue By The Editor	683	(14)
Further Reading	697