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Analyzing Henry David Thoreau's 'Solitude'

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Analyzing Henry David Thoreau's 'Solitude'
Essay One

“Solitude” by Henry David Thoreau demonstrates the need for humanity to connect with nature. He also goes in-depth about what is means to be lonely and how one can be alone while being surrounded by others as well as how one can achieve to be not be lonely in isolation. Thoreau explores the surroundings of his home and Walden Pond while giving the reader a sense of bliss over the simplicities of nature for a spiritual experience. “The Call of the Wild” by Gary Snyder emphasizes on how human society fears the call of the wild through his poem. He uses Native American symbols such as the coyote in his poem to convey the message of how humanity fears nature and does not care about nature, which leads to various destructions upon it.
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“For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction” “When I compare myself with other men, it seems as If I were more favored by the gods than they, beyond any deserts that I am conscious of…” (Thoreau 380). He measures his spiritual level on a superior level and considers it a rewarding and a therapeutic experience. “I was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature” (Thoreau 380). He reminds society that they can form a bond with nature the way he has and how they will benefit greatly from it. Snyder is more direct with society and targets individuals who reside in the city “All these Americans up in special cities in the sky / Dumping poisons and explosives / Across Asia first / and next North America” (Snyder 57-61). The urban individuals also kill nature and pay no attention to nature and then states, “A war against earth” (Snyder 62). Snyder implies that human kind is at war with earth. In “Solitude” by Thoreau and “Call of the Wild” by Snyder the writers argue similar topics, but the way they each present the topics varies and when analyzing both one can truly see the essence of nature from a philosophical and an activist as well an ecological

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