Suddenly your adversary’s checker disappears beneath the board, and the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will ap
Nice visual use here, it really serves to show how Thoreau feels about his relationship with the loon.
19 Matching Annotations
- Jul 2019
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rods in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself
His use of the word "betrayed" is an interesting one. It further serves to show how this is a game between them.
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arges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily, taking sides with all water-fowl
I love his use of personification here for the water! It serves to show how he observes the connection between the pond and the loon and the hunters.
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’s to gossip. I went there frequently to observe their habits.
Here he is showing once again that he is an astute and interested observer, perhaps the greatest source of inspiration for him, to describe what he sees and feels.
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he men and boys; instead of the wind among the pines I heard the
Again he is drawing comparison between how he sees the surroundings of the pond to the village. Always drawing distinction and comparison between nature and civilization.
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They were beans cheerfully returning to their wild and primitive state that I
I like how he describes his field in terms of it's difference from the others. He has no desire to make it the perfect crop, but simply to have a productive, natural bean field.
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ere impatient to
"are impatient to be hoed" is a great use of personification for his rows of beans, I could instantly picture what they might have looked like.
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with faint flitting lisping notes, like the tinkling of icicles in the grass,
This I feel is a much more clear and familiar metaphor as I think we all know the feeling of icicles in grass. Clear and powerful.
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heard the sound of their wings like a tempest in the woods a
I am not sure this metaphor remains relevant today, who know's what a tempest sounds like?
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going to heaven while the cars ar
This is a nice comparison here between heaven and Boston. It paints a nice picture of a very whimsical feeling coupled with something very literal and real.
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so heedlessly did they grow and tax their weak join
I love his use of "tax" to illustrate what is going on here. I think it helps to add to the imagery.
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ries. They seemed glad to get out themselves, and as if unwilling to be brought in.
This is an effective personification used here to describe his furniture being outside.
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of time. I grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better than any work of the hands
This is a powerful sentence using metaphor to compare his mental growth to that of the physical growth of a corn stalk.
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Will you be a reader, a student mere
This phrase uses nice classification to distinguish between those who merely read to themselves and those who absorb and understand.
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talk sensibly. We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whoo
The author is making an important social commentary here by proposing that we would like to make technological advancements yet might be more interested in gossip or trivial news.
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order to swell the wood, I saw a striped snake run into the water,
I wonder why he would use the term "run" here since as we all know snakes do not run. Is he trying to ascribe some specific trait to this particular snake?
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The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward
A powerful sentence! Could this end up becoming a theme for the writing? He's really driving home the point that true wealth comes in the form of knowledge and self contentment.
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y, promising to pay, tomorrow, a
I really enjoy this phrase, it has a deep connection to how many of us still live today by describing how we create debts we have no means or intention of repaying.
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an has not leisure for a t
I'm feeling confused by this phrase "has not leisure for a true integrity". Does he mean simply that the working man has no time for leisure?
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