Henry David Thoreau Quote
On Ponkawtasset, since, we took our way,Down this still stream we took our meadowy way,A poet wise has settled, whose fine rayDoth faintly shine on Concord's twilight day.Like those first stars, whose silver beams on high,Shining more brightly as the day goes by,Most travellers cannot at first descry,But eyes that wont to range the evening sky,And know celestial lights, do plainly see,And gladly hail them, numbering two or three;For lore that's deep must deeply studied be,As from deep wells men read star-poetry.These stars are never pal'd, though out of sight,But like the sun they shine forever bright;Aye, they are suns, though earth must in its flightPut out its eyes that it may see their light.Who would neglect the least celestial sound,Or faintest light that falls on earthly ground,If he could know it one day would be foundThat star in Cygnus whither we are bound,And pale our sun with heavenly radiance round?
On Ponkawtasset, since, we took our way,Down this still stream we took our meadowy way,A poet wise has settled, whose fine rayDoth faintly shine on Concord's twilight day.Like those first stars, whose silver beams on high,Shining more brightly as the day goes by,Most travellers cannot at first descry,But eyes that wont to range the evening sky,And know celestial lights, do plainly see,And gladly hail them, numbering two or three;For lore that's deep must deeply studied be,As from deep wells men read star-poetry.These stars are never pal'd, though out of sight,But like the sun they shine forever bright;Aye, they are suns, though earth must in its flightPut out its eyes that it may see their light.Who would neglect the least celestial sound,Or faintest light that falls on earthly ground,If he could know it one day would be foundThat star in Cygnus whither we are bound,And pale our sun with heavenly radiance round?
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About Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.
Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced the political thoughts and actions of notable figures such as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Thoreau is sometimes referred to retrospectively as an anarchist, but may perhaps be more properly regarded as a proto-anarchist.