1. Fill in the blanks to complete the summary of the text.

When Thoreau first moves into his dwelling on 1) Day, it gives him a proud sense of being a god on 2) , even though the house still lacks a chimney and 3) . He claims that a paradise fit for gods is available everywhere, if one can perceive it: “Olympus is but the outside of the earth every where.” Taking an optimistic view, he declares that his poorly 4) walls give his interior the benefit of fresh air on summer nights. He justifies its lack of carved 5) by declaring that it is better to carve “the very atmosphere” one thinks and feels in, in an artistry of the soul. It is for him an almost immaterial, heavenly house, “as far off as many a region viewed nightly by 6) ”. He prefers to reside here, sitting on his own humble wooden chair, than in some distant corner of the universe,“behind the 7) of Cassiopeia’s Chair”. He is free from time as well as from matter, announcing grandiosely that time is a 8) in which he goes fishing. He does not view himself as the 9) of time; rather he makes it seem as though he is choosing to participate in the flow of time whenever and however he chooses, like a god living in 10) .

2. Discuss the following questions.

1) Do you think it was accidental that Thoreau moved into his cabin on the Fourth of July? What might be the symbolic meaning of his experiment with living alone in the woods?

2) How does Thoreau describe the conditions of his newly built cabin? Was he content with this abode in the woods?

3) Why did Thoreau choose Walden Pond to test his idea of living a full but simple life?

4) Why does Thoreau make so much of the images of dawn, sunrise, and morning? What attitudes do they carry?

5) How does Thoreau’s definition of being awake differ from the usual definition? How often are you and your friends awake, by Thoreau’s definition?

6) What was Thoreau’s purpose in going to live by the pond?

7) How is it possible “to live what was not life”? Give examples from people you know or have read about.

8) What ideas in the text impressed you enough to make you want to change your life, and why? What parts do you still disagree with, and why?

9) Thoreau was very fond of paradoxes, or statements which seem to be logically contradictory but do present a truth which reconciles the contradiction. Find some examples from the text.

10) What are the major ideas Thoreau as a transcendentalist presents in the text?

3. Tell whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1) The cabin was well built and well furnished. ( )

2) Thoreau’s building of a house on Walden Pond is, for him, a miniature re-enactment of God’s creation of the world. ( )

3) Walden Pond was an untouched wilderness lake far away from the town. ( )

4) Thoreau lived an isolated and serene life in the woods. ( )

5) Thoreau claims a divine freedom from the flow of time when living alone in the woods. ( )

6) Thoreau notes only very few people are capable of experiencing spiritual freedom.( )

7) According to Thoreau, the morning, which is the most precious time of the day, is the awakening hour. ( )

8) Thoreau neither rejected civilization nor fully embraced wilderness. ( )