Closest to His Ponds

Closest to His Ponds

Thoreau adored Walden Pond, the woodlands and even the "smooth rounded white stones" that made its shores. (Thoreau 169) Although he walks to town, almost purposely, to be in disgust of his own society every once in a while, he returns to Walden where his fruits do "yield their true flavor." (Thoreau 164) He gives special attention to this body of water and the neighboring ones because of the joy they bring him and the past he's had at Walden. Thoreau would spend great deals of time fishing and meditatively wading inside a boat in his younger years. Here at the pond, Thoreau spiritually purifies himself with the waters of Walden Pond while interacting and appreciating the life in and around the pond. Walden was a mystery to some but Thoreau knew what actual life existed in its waters. The pond was nature's medium to communicate a message to Thoreau.

Even then it had commenced to rise and fall, and had clarified its waters and colored them of the hue they now wear, and obtained a patent of Heaven to be the only Walden Pond in the world and distiller of celestial dews. (Thoreau 169)

The pond and Thoreau have a connection that one can only imagine through reading this chapter. Henry admits that Walden is more humble and beautiful than grandeur, but is just as meaningful and pure. It's the purity of the waters that attracts your attention the most, especially when you picture him looking out onto the pond to see the flat, shining reflection of the sky mirroring off the water. Comparably, White Pond is more pure than Flints', while Walden, Fair Haven Bay and Goose Pond, which were all nearest bodies of water, were within twelve miles. As close as Thoreau is to his Walden, he names White Pond it's "lesser twin" and sarcastically says "they are so much alike that you would say they must be connected underground." (Thoreau 186) Flints' Pond was not so remarkable in purity or depth but was vast, and abundant with fish. Thoreau goes on to ask, "What right does one person have over something God made?"

"Let it be named from the fishes that swam in it, the wild fowl or quadrupeds which frequent it, the wild flowers which grow by its shores, or some wild man or child the thread of whose history is interwoven with its own,"...which Thoreau meant literally, probably hinting at himself growing so close to Walden in his youth. (Thoreau 184) The pond lies there for life to sustain itself. It's there for drinking, cleansing, fishing and just as Thoreau does, for paddling a boat out into it so one can receive nature's message.

Observing the natural world then immediately translating it into something spiritual is Thoreau's goal, or rather giving human qualities to Walden..."these are the lips of the lake on which no beard grows. It licks its chaps from time to time."(Thoreau 172) Here, Thoreau is thinking about the pond from 1824 to that Summer in 1852 and how the water would rise and fall in seasons. Walden was strange because, "unlike many ponds and all waters which are subject to a daily tide, its shore is cleanest when the water is lowest," and Walden's waters would peak to clean the new trees from the shore in Winter.(Thoreau 172) "Even as late as the fifth of December," water bugs still streaked across the top of the water when most or all life should be gone for the Winter.(Thoreau 180) Thoreau wrote as if the fish in the pond and other animals surprised him with their presence. While out on his boat, a mud turtle would startle Henry after bumping against it on one side or a school of fish would surprise him, "constantly rising to the surface and dimpling it, sometimes leaving bubbles on it."(Thoreau

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