Notes

Read the excerpt from Walden.
I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pondside; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct.
What is the metaphor being used in this passage?
pondside
door
beaten track
lives to live

What tone does Thoreau use in “Civil Disobedience”?
dark and foreboding
light and conversational
serious and impassioned
educational and impartial

What is a metaphor?
the arrangement of words in a sentence
the way an author expresses his or her attitude in the text
a figure of speech that shows a similarity between two or more unlike things
an extended comparison of relationships

Which of the following best describes Thoreau’s writing style?
humorous
conversational
authoritarian
whimsical

Read the passage from Walden.
The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
What is the meaning of the metaphor morning star?
hope
despair
individuality
instability

What is a writer’s tone?
a figure of speech that shows a similarity between two or more unlike things
the arrangement of words in a sentence
an extended comparison of relationships
the way an author expresses his or her attitude in the text

Read the passage from Walden.
Our life is frittered away by details. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest.
What is Thoreau saying in this passage?
People should engage in manual labor.
People should aim for personal honesty.
People should pay attention to details.
People should live life simply.

Read the passage from “Civil Disobedience.”
This American government—what is it but a tradition. . . . It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves; and, if ever they should use it in earnest as a real one against each other, it will surely split.
Why does Thoreau compare the American government to a wooden gun?
to indicate that it is likely to burn to the ground
to indicate that it can harm others easily
to indicate that it is a part of nature
to indicate that it has only the appearance of power

In “Civil Disobedience,” what does Thoreau ask his readers to do?
run for legislative office and effect change
step forward and demand the type of government they want
join in fighting in the Mexican-American War
protest taxation and a standing army

Read the passage from Walden.
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. . . . simplify, simplify. Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one, instead of a hundred dishes, five.
Which element of Thoreau’s style is shown in these passages from Walden?
using mathematical examples
writing in short sentences
repeating main ideas
using themes from the kitchen