Sophisticated Words on the Simple Life: Thoreau’s Rhetoric Nature is a complicated entity whom countless poets and writers have written about. Henry David Thoreau, a highly educated author who frequently wrote about nature, wanted to understand nature and, more importantly, life better. To do so, he went to live in the woods of Walden Pond for two years, and wrote a book about his time there. The resulting work, entitled Walden, discussed Thoreau’s time in Walden. The second chapter named “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”, heavily discussed why Thoreau decided to live at Walden Pond for two years. Thoreau continues the chapter by attempting to present the purpose of living life simply, going so far as to take his argument to extremes.
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Thoreau starts his juxtaposition using syntactical devices to hint at an underlying meaning when he says: “The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which…are all external and superficial, is…an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim[…]; and the only cure for it…is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose (99-100).” This statement is, ironically, purposefully over-complicated. The sentence rushes forward to build force along with confusion. The reader can only completely understand Thoreau’s meaning once the statement is slowed and even dismantled to clarify and absorb that meaning. The stylistic effect leads the reader to feel, on a smaller scale, what Thoreau himself feels about his nation and society: “It lives too fast (100).” This simple sentence is a means of actively demonstrating the contrast between the overly complex and the simple. This juxtaposition using parallel meaning is meant to show how such a complicated subject can be stated simply. Thoreau uses asyndeton in a periodic sentence which hides his meaning, followed by a short, simple sentence that blatantly states his meaning. The reader is meant to …show more content…
Thoreau was writing for an educated audience who were of his social class. The most influential device is parallelistic juxtaposition, and sets a tone and attitude for the whole piece. The device’s almost all appeal to the emotion of the audience. Thoreau’s work was the keystone for American Transcendentalism. However, there are tears in Thoreau’s argument, mainly created due to fallacies and pedanticism. The most prominent fallacy that is found in the work is circularly thinking, forgoing conclusions, and assuming his arguments already true. Even if Thoreau’s work is fallacious, it is not wrong. Thoreau’s work is seen as innovative, not for his ideas, but for his presentation of said ideas. “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” does not simply present Thoreau’s feelings, it makes the reader experience the same feelings on a smaller
Thoreau starts his juxtaposition using syntactical devices to hint at an underlying meaning when he says: “The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which…are all external and superficial, is…an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim[…]; and the only cure for it…is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose (99-100).” This statement is, ironically, purposefully over-complicated. The sentence rushes forward to build force along with confusion. The reader can only completely understand Thoreau’s meaning once the statement is slowed and even dismantled to clarify and absorb that meaning. The stylistic effect leads the reader to feel, on a smaller scale, what Thoreau himself feels about his nation and society: “It lives too fast (100).” This simple sentence is a means of actively demonstrating the contrast between the overly complex and the simple. This juxtaposition using parallel meaning is meant to show how such a complicated subject can be stated simply. Thoreau uses asyndeton in a periodic sentence which hides his meaning, followed by a short, simple sentence that blatantly states his meaning. The reader is meant to …show more content…
Thoreau was writing for an educated audience who were of his social class. The most influential device is parallelistic juxtaposition, and sets a tone and attitude for the whole piece. The device’s almost all appeal to the emotion of the audience. Thoreau’s work was the keystone for American Transcendentalism. However, there are tears in Thoreau’s argument, mainly created due to fallacies and pedanticism. The most prominent fallacy that is found in the work is circularly thinking, forgoing conclusions, and assuming his arguments already true. Even if Thoreau’s work is fallacious, it is not wrong. Thoreau’s work is seen as innovative, not for his ideas, but for his presentation of said ideas. “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” does not simply present Thoreau’s feelings, it makes the reader experience the same feelings on a smaller