Henry David Thoreau's Essay 'The Battle Of The Ants'

The tone of Henry David Thoreau’s essay The Battle of the Ants has a big effect on how the essay is read. The essay is a narrative, telling a story. The story is told in a very calm tone, and Thoreau tells it from a first person point of view in past tense. This makes the story sound like readers are sitting with Thoreau by the fireside one night as he is telling it to them. While it does not make the story very exciting, it makes the essay very interesting. Readers are not glued to the page like they would be if the story had been written in a more excited tone, but the battle of the ants is described with such beautiful metaphors, and in such a way where you could tell that Thoreau was interested in what was happening, that readers cannot
help but be interested as well. The calm and friendly tone means that it is not suspenseful, but it allows readers to gain a better picture of what is happening. Thoreau describes the battle with beautiful metaphors and with references to famous soldiers and battles to produce his desired effect. He is able to make the simple event of ants fighting sound like a grand battle, akin to battles in the Iliad and the battle of Bunker Hill. This hyperbole gives the essay a more dramatic feel, and makes the fight sound a lot more interesting and important than in would be normally.