Synopsis
The Maine Woods is a collection of essays and observations by Henry David Thoreau, an American philosopher, naturalist, and writer. The book chronicles Thoreau's journey through the wilderness of Maine, where he spent several summers exploring the region's forests, lakes, and mountains. Thoreau's writing style is descriptive and introspective, as he reflects on the beauty and majesty of nature while also contemplating his own place in the world. He describes encounters with wildlife, including moose, bears, and birds, and reflects on the changing seasons and the rhythms of the natural world. Throughout the book, Thoreau also offers insights into the history and culture of the region, including the lives of the Native Americans who once lived there and the impact of European settlement on the landscape. He also explores the role of humans in shaping the natural world, reflecting on the impact of logging and other industries on the environment.Overall, The Maine Woods is a thoughtful and thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between humans and the natural world, as seen through the eyes of one of America's most influential writers.Anxious to get out of the whale's belly, I rose early, and joined some old salts, who were smoking by a dim light on a sheltered part of the deck. We were just getting into the river. They knew all about it, of course. I was proud to find that I had stood the voyage so well, and was not in the least digested. We brushed up and watched the first signs of dawn through an open port; but the day seemed to hang fire. We inquired the time; none of my companions had a chronometer. At length an African prince rushed by, observing, ""Twelve o'clock, gentlemen!"" and blew out the light. It was moon- rise. So I slunk down into the monster's bowels again.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Book Description
Posthumously published in 1864, The Maine Woods depicts Henry David Thoreau’s experiences in the forests of Maine, and expands on the author’s transcendental theories on the relation of humanity to Nature. On Mount Katahdin, he faces a primal, untamed Nature. Katahdin is a place “not even scarred by man, but it was a specimen of what God saw fit to make this world.” In Maine he comes in contact with “rocks, trees, wind and solid earth” as though he were witness to the creation itself. Of equal importance, The Maine Woods depicts Thoreau’s contact with the American Indians and depicts his tribal education of learning the language, customs, and mores of the Penobscot people. Thoreau attempts to learn and speak the Abenaki language and becomes fascinated with its direct translation of natural phenomena as in the word sebamook—a river estuary that never loses is water despite having an outlet because it also has an inlet. The Maine Woods illustrates the author’s deeper understanding of the complexities of the primal wilderness of uplifted rocky summits in Maine and provides the reader with the pungent aroma of balsam firs, black spruce, mosses, and ferns as only Thoreau could. This new, redesigned edition features an insightful foreword by Thoreau scholar Richard Francis Fleck.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
