WALDENHenryDavidThoreau瓦尔登湖.ppt

WALDEN-by-Henry-David-WALDEN-by-Henry-David-ThoreauThoreau瓦尔登湖瓦尔登湖ContentHenry David Thoreau 1Synopsis of Walden2Themes of Walden34Summary & Viewpoint1.1 Henry David Thoreau ￿￿￿￿Henry￿David￿Thoreau￿(July￿12,￿1817￿–￿May￿6,￿1862)￿was￿an￿American￿author,￿philosopher,￿a￿leading￿member￿of￿transcendentalism.￿￿￿￿He￿was￿graduated￿from￿Harvard￿University,￿and￿he￿was￿a￿disciple,￿a￿friend￿of￿Emerson￿who￿was￿a￿representive￿of￿Transcendetalism.￿￿￿￿￿Thoreau￿once￿refused￿to￿pay￿tax￿to￿protest￿against￿the￿Mexican￿War￿and￿slavry￿then￿he￿was￿imprisoned￿for￿it.￿￿￿￿￿￿￿But￿The￿next￿day￿Thoreau￿was￿freed￿when￿someone,￿like￿his￿aunt,￿paid￿the￿tax￿against￿his￿wishes.￿His￿behavior￿had￿influnced￿some￿people￿in￿20th￿century￿such￿as￿Gandhi￿and￿Martin￿Luther￿King.￿Jr.1.2 Background of Walden￿￿￿￿In￿19th￿century,￿with￿the￿rapid￿development￿of￿productivity,￿people￿increaslingly￿realized￿the￿importance￿of￿materialism,￿the￿pursuit￿of￿material￿had￿been￿increasingly￿severe.￿But￿the￿better￿material￿condition￿had￿not￿brought￿ease￿in￿people's￿mentality.￿￿￿￿￿Under￿this￿background,￿Thoreau￿stayed￿two￿years￿and￿two￿months￿near￿by￿Walden￿pond￿to￿pursue￿the￿ideal￿lifestyle.￿His￿opinion￿was￿back￿to￿nature.￿During￿these￿two￿years,￿Thoreau￿simplified￿everything,￿￿living￿a￿simple￿life.￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿￿——￿Henry￿David￿Thoreau,￿"Where￿I￿Lived,￿and￿What￿I￿Lived￿For"￿￿￿￿He￿wanted￿to￿prove￿that￿people￿should￿not￿indulge￿in￿endless￿pursuit￿of￿material￿through￿his￿practice.￿So￿he￿started￿to￿write￿Walden￿to￿encourage￿people￿to￿value￿mental￿quality￿towards￿life.2.1 Synopsis of Walden1.￿Economy2.￿Complemental￿Verses3.￿Where￿I￿Lived，￿and￿What￿I￿Lived￿for4.￿Reading5.￿Sounds6.￿Solitude7.￿Visitors8.￿The￿Beanfield9.￿The￿Village10.￿The￿Ponds11.￿Baker￿Farm12.￿Higher￿Laws13.￿Brute￿Neighbors14.￿House-Warming15.￿Former￿Inhabitants；￿and￿Winter￿Visitors16.￿Winter￿Animals17.￿The￿Pond￿in￿Winter18.￿Spring19.￿Conclusion2.2 Synopsis of WaldenIn￿this￿first￿and￿longest￿chapter,￿Thoreau￿outlines￿his￿project:￿a￿two-year,￿two-month,￿and￿two-day￿stay￿at￿a￿cozy,￿"tightly￿shingled￿and￿plastered",￿English-style￿10'￿×￿15'￿cottage￿in￿the￿woods￿near￿Walden￿Pond.￿￿￿￿He￿does￿this,￿he￿says,￿to￿illustrate￿the￿spiritual￿benefits￿of￿a￿simplified￿lifestyle.￿He￿easily￿supplies￿the￿four￿necessities￿of￿life￿(food,￿shelter,￿clothing,￿and￿fuel)￿with￿the￿help￿of￿family￿and￿friends,￿particularly￿his￿mother,￿his￿best￿friend,￿and￿Mr.￿and￿Mrs.￿Ralph￿Waldo￿Emerson.￿The￿latter￿provided￿Thoreau￿with￿a￿work￿exchange￿–￿he￿could￿build￿a￿small￿house￿and￿plant￿a￿garden￿if￿he￿cleared￿some￿land￿on￿the￿woodlot￿and￿did￿other￿chores￿while￿there.Thoreau￿meticulously￿records￿his￿expenditures￿and￿earnings,￿demonstrating￿his￿understanding￿of￿"economy",￿as￿he￿builds￿his￿house￿and￿buys￿and￿grows￿food.￿For￿a￿home￿and￿freedom,￿he￿spent￿a￿mere￿$28.12½,￿in￿1845￿(about￿$863￿in￿today's￿money).￿At￿the￿end￿of￿this￿chapter,￿Thoreau￿inserts￿a￿poem,￿"The￿Pretensions￿of￿Poverty",￿by￿seventeenth-century￿English￿poet￿Thomas￿Carew.￿The￿poem￿criticizes￿those￿who￿think￿that￿their￿poverty￿gives￿them￿unearned￿moral￿and￿intellectual￿superiority.￿The￿chapter￿is￿filled￿with￿figures￿of￿practical￿advice,￿facts,￿big￿ideas￿about￿individualism￿versus￿social￿existence...manifesto￿of￿social￿thought￿and￿meditations￿on￿domestic￿management.￿￿￿￿￿Much￿attention￿is￿devoted￿to￿the￿skepticism￿and￿wonderment￿with￿which￿townspeople￿greeted￿both￿him￿and￿his￿project￿as￿he￿tries￿to￿protect￿his￿views￿from￿those￿of￿the￿townspeople￿who￿seem￿to￿view￿society￿as￿the￿only￿place￿to￿live.￿He￿recounts￿the￿reasons￿for￿his￿move￿to￿Walden￿Pond￿along￿with￿detailed￿steps￿back￿to￿the￿construction￿of￿his￿new￿home￿(methods,￿support,￿etc.).3.1 Themes of WaldenNaturalism.￿“Back￿to￿Nature”￿was￿the￿basic￿idea￿of￿Walden,￿Thoreau￿claimed￿people￿should￿not￿forget￿the￿pleasure￿of￿living￿near￿to￿nature.Simplicity:￿￿￿￿￿￿Simplicity￿seems￿to￿be￿Thoreau‘s￿model￿for￿life.￿Throughout￿the￿book,￿Thoreau￿constantly￿sought￿to￿simplify￿his￿lifestyle:￿he￿lived￿￿simply￿and￿deliberately,￿devoting￿his￿time￿to￿observation￿and￿reflection.￿He￿patched￿his￿clothes￿rather￿than￿buy￿new￿ones￿and￿minimized￿his￿consumer￿activity.Self-reliance:￿￿￿Thoreau￿refused￿to￿be￿in￿"need"￿of￿the￿companionship￿of￿others.￿￿He￿realized￿its￿significance,￿but￿he￿thought￿it￿unnecessary￿to￿always￿be￿in￿search￿for￿it.￿Self-reliance,￿to￿him,￿was￿economic￿and￿social￿and￿was￿a￿principle￿that￿in￿terms￿of￿financial￿and￿interpersonal￿relations￿was￿more￿valuable￿than￿anything.￿To￿Thoreau,￿self-reliance￿can￿be￿both￿spiritual￿as￿well￿as￿economic.￿Connection￿to￿transcendentalism￿and￿to￿Emerson's￿essay.3.2 Themes of Walden￿￿￿￿From￿the￿perspective￿of￿ecology,￿Thoreau￿initially￿attached￿the￿importance￿on￿the￿harmonious￿relationship￿between￿human￿and￿nature.￿At￿the￿same￿time,￿he￿came￿up￿with￿some￿ideas￿about￿experiencing￿the￿most￿rewarding￿life￿by￿living￿near￿to￿nature.￿￿￿￿It￿was￿not￿simply￿a￿mirror￿of￿what￿he￿literally￿saw￿but￿a￿reflection￿of￿his￿philosophy.￿Same￿as￿Emerson,￿he￿believed￿that￿the￿Spiritual￿Limitation￿was￿commonly￿existed￿among￿the￿people.￿The￿all￿present￿spiritual￿nature￿corresponds￿to￿the￿divine￿intuition￿of￿an￿individual.￿￿￿￿￿Walden￿now￿has￿become￿a￿symbol￿of￿natural￿lifestyle,￿a￿pursuit￿of￿simple￿life￿as￿well￿as￿the￿destination￿of￿soul.4.1 Summary Descriptive Features:Linguistic Features:Writing Features:The essay is so exquisite that it’s full of poetry. The changeable colors of the lake, the splendid surroundings are all what the author goes after. It shows that he has mixed himself with the nature closely.The essay is very simple without magnficent words. It is just like the ordinary life in Walden and the transparency of the lake, which gives readers visual impact and psychological enjoyment.The author uses a lot of angles and figures of speech tostructure the essay, such as Metaphor, Personification, Exaggeration, etc. The feelings can be found by depicting specific sceneries. A lake is the landscape‘s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye, looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. The fluviatile trees next to the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it and the wooded hills and cliff around are its overhanging brows. —— Metaphor 湖是风景中最美、最有表情的姿容，她是大地的眼睛，望着她的人可以测出他自己的天性的深浅。

湖所产生的湖边的树木都是睫毛一样的镶边，而四周林郁葱葱的群山和山崖是她浓密突出的眉毛￿￿￿￿Thoreau￿uses￿his￿imagination￿to￿claim￿that￿people￿should￿respect￿and￿care￿about￿individual￿life.￿It￿reveals￿his￿universal￿naturalism.4.2￿Viewpoints After our members read this meaningful book, we all think it is a beautiful book that is full of wisdom and philosophy. The author lives close to the nature and leads a simple life, showing his persuit to freedom. The greatness of the book lies in his determination to his dream by art and a kind of favorable form, which makes him renew his living. ￿THANK￿YOU。