HUM 1020 – INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES

Worksheet for Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”

Directions:Read the excerpt from Thoreau’s “Walden.” Complete this worksheet according
to the instructions for each section. Type your answers in the text entry fields. (The entry
fields will expand as you type in them.) Write in complete sentences. If you write in
fragments, you will lose points!Use the submission link on the assignment page to upload
your document.WORTH 18 POINTS

Section I –In two or more complete sentences, state a major Romantic characteristic of
Romanticism that runs through the essay as a main theme. Define or explain what the
characteristics means.(4 pts.)
A major topic of Romantic characteristic of romanticism can be transcendentalism.
Transcendentalism is the concept that information received through invention and
sensitivity is more important than knowledge gained via rational reasoning.

Section II – Select three (3) direct quotations from the essay (not the instructor’s
introduction) which best exemplify the stated theme. Write the quotations in the spaces
provided.Type out the entire quotes; do not write in fragments or use ellipses (. . .).(9 pts.)

Quotation A:”Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are
not awakened by our talents, but by the mechanical nudgings of some servant, are not
awakened by our own newly-acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied
by the sound of celestial music, instead of factory bells, and a fragrance filling the air--to
a higher life than we fell asleep from; and thus the darkens bears its fruit, and proves
itself to be good, no less than the light. . . ."

Quotation B:”There was something cosmical about it; a standing advertisement, till
forbidden, of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world. The morning, which is the
most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is the least
sleepiness in us; and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all
the rest of the day and night.”

Quotation C:"The intellect is a cleaver; it discerns and cuts its way into the secret of
things. I do not wish to be anymore busy with my hands than is necessary. My head is
hands and feet. I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it. My instinct tells me that my
head is an organ for burrowing, as some creatures use their snout and forepaws, and
with it I would mine and burrow my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is
somewhere hereabouts; so by the divining rod and thin rising vapors I judge; and here I
will begin to mine."
Section III – Select one of the above quotes and in two or more complete sentences, tell
HOW it relates to, or helps illustrate, the Romantic characteristic you stated in Section I.
(Make sure you tell your reader which quotation you will be referring to.)(5 pts.)

I selected quotation (A, B or C?): B

The quote helps to illustrate the romantic characteristic because:

"There was something cosmical about it; a standing advertisement, till forbidden, of the
everlasting vigor and fertility of the world. The morning, which is the most memorable
season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is the least sleepiness in us; and
for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and
night." This quote show Thoreau's fascination with the nature, and how he says that
"there was something cosmical about it "and then he goes on to explain the memorable
hours in the mornings and then the last few hours of the day, during night which we are
ready to end the day. In this essay, Thoreau primarily appreciates nature as a way to
get back in touch with what is most human in himself, and also with providing example
and beautifully explaining what he sees in the nature, like how he talks about mornings
and nights in the above quote, he helps us visualize the nature and start to protect and
conserve the nature. In Walden, Thoreau successfully shows us why it is so important
to conserve nature.