Thoreau’s View of Society and Nature through The Ponds

Thoreau talks very highly of the pond and nature surrounding in which leads me to believe that he enjoys spending time by it. On page 235 I find it particularly interesting when he says “The scenery of Walden is on a humble scale, and, though very beautiful, does not approach to grandeur, nor can it much concern one who has not frequented it or lived by its shore…”. To me Thoreau is saying that he sees the beauty of Walden pond but to someone who has never been there or spent any sort of signifigant time there, they will not see its beauty. I think this aligns with Thoreau’s attitude towards nature and society. I say this because he seems to love being out in nature by himself but does not believe that society can see his love for nature and just thinks he is strange for being out in nature by himself. Iwould tend to agree with Thoreau here because for some people they can see the beauty in nature while other can’t and would just think that it’s just a tree or in this case it’s just a pond of water.

One Reply to “Thoreau’s View of Society and Nature through The Ponds”

  1. I think this is interesting because in so many places today people see nature as a “vacation spot” where they go to admire beautiful scenery or climate for a short period of time. I visited Yosemite National Park this summer and I believe it is a great example of that. Most visitors only see a tiny percentage of the park, and though the area is very beautiful, many people don’t spend time with it or form deep connections. Another important point is that if all Yosemite’s visitors saw all of the park, there would likely be issues due to human traffic, and the natural wilderness would become trampled and polluted.

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