What Does Thoreau Mean When He Says Our Life Is Like A German Confederacy?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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The author compares the households of his time to a German confederacy at the beginning of the second paragraph, where he says, “Our life is like

a German Confederacy, made up of petty states, with its boundary forever fluctuating, so that even a German cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment

.” This may be …

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What is the meaning of the allusion to Ulysses in paragraph 7?

What is the meaning of the allusion to Ulysses in paragraph 7?

Ulysses was tied onto his ship’s mast when they were passing an island of sirens, so he wouldn’t follow after them. He uses it to compare the giving up of the audiences materialistic lives

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What is a central idea about progress from the excerpt of Walden?

Walden Excerpt | Literature Quiz – Quizizz. What is Thoreau’s purpose or central message? People can find satisfaction in living simply despite the contemporary influence of conformity and consumerism.

People should conform to societal norms in order to live comfortably warm for the rest of their lives

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What does it mean to be unhurried and wise?

When we are unhurried and wise, we

perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence

– that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality. ( Where I Lived.21) For Thoreau, spiritual enlightenment isn’t just about knowledge.

What does after a night’s sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast mean?

“Hardly a man takes a half-hour’s nap after dinner,” he wrote, “but

when he wakes he holds up his head and asks

, ‘What’s the news? … After a night’s sleep the news has become as indispensable as the breakfast.” Thoreau concluded that following current events so closely was seldom worth it.

What did Thoreau learn from his experiment of life in the woods your answer?

What did Thoreau learn from his experiment in the woods? that

if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagines, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours

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What does Thoreau mean when he says as for work we haven’t any of any consequence para 3 )? What is his definition of work?

what does Thoreau mean when he says “as for work, we haven’t any of any consequence”?

all work that we do is trivial and meaningless

.

What is Thoreau’s central message in Walden?

Thoreau’s central message in Walden is

to live simply, independently, and wisely

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What are 3 ideas Henry David Thoreau values?

Transcendentalist Values. Transcendentalists believed in numerous values, however they can all be condensed into three basic, essential values:

individualism, idealism, and the divinity of nature

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How does Thoreau’s Walden establish spiritual values for life?

Walden offers new values

through giving a new perspective to its audience

, which changes life’s meaning and purpose. Thoreau went to Walden Pond at a point in his life when he realized he needed to search within himself and to discover his true self.

What is our life frittered away?

Our life is

frittered away by detail

. … Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail . . . Simplify, simplify.

How did Thoreau live his life?

Thoreau goes to live in the woods because he

wished to live deliberately

, to front only the essential facts of life and learn what they had to teach and to discover if he had really lived. … The advice that Thoreau offers to those who live in poverty is love your life and money is not the answer to live.

When we are unhurried and wise we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence?

“When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.”

What does Thoreau mean when he speaks of living deliberately?

What does he mean by “living deliberately”? Henry David Thoreau went to the woods because he “wished to live deliberately”. By living deliberately, Thoreau means that

he wished to use only the essential facts of life, live apart from others, and to discover the aspect of life that he has not lived

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What did Thoreau learn while he was in the woods?

Henry David Thoreau’s experience at Walden Pond taught him that there are only four necessities for him:

food, shelter, clothing, and fuel

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How does Thoreau contemplate what life could be amidst nature?

Henry David Thoreau, disciple of Ralph Waldo Emerson, sought isolation and nearness to nature. … In his writings he suggests that

all living things have rights that humans should recognize

, implying that we have a responsibility to respect and care for nature rather than destroying it.

What was Thoreau experience in the woods?

Henry spent his time at

the house writing, reading

, taking long walks, observing nature and entertaining visitors. While living at Walden Pond he worked extensively, writing A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, a book about a trip he had taken with his brother John who died three years later of lockjaw.

What is the metaphor that Thoreau uses to describe civilized life in paragraph 4 What meaning does he convey through this figure of speech?

For example, Thoreau uses the metaphor “this chopping sea of civilized life”

to suggest the perils and difficulties of modern living

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What does Thoreau assert is necessary for living and what is not how does he make his point?

Thoreau states that

high-end housing is

a necessary for living. Thoreau suggests to only eat what you need, buy what you can afford, and live simply. Thoreau asserts that working for large corporations in order to make a sizable living is a necessity.

What does Thoreau mean when he says we do not ride on the railroad it rides upon us at the end of Passage 1?

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.” In this, Thoreau discusses where he feels the Natural world needs the industrial, saying that we build the railroads to see our nations natural beauties but in doing so we destroy it

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What is one of Thoreau’s main ideas in Walden or Life in the Woods?

By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to

gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection

. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau’s other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period.

What is Thoreau’s message in walking?

Thoreau’s walking

explores a territory better expressed by mythology than history

. He conveys some urgency to walk by stating that, although the landscape is not owned at present, he foresees a time when property ownership may prevail over it.

What does Thoreau say about luxuries?

What does Thoreau say about the luxuries of life? He

says Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind

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What do transcendentalists believe about death?

Elements of Transcendentalist belief: The transcendentalist “transcends” or rises above the lower animalistic impulses of life (animal drives) and moves from the rational to a spiritual realm.

The human soul is part of the Oversoul or universal spirit to which it and other souls return at death

.

What were transcendentalists beliefs?

Transcendentalists advocated

the idea of a personal knowledge of God

, believing that no intermediary was needed for spiritual insight. They embraced idealism, focusing on nature and opposing materialism.

What did Transcendentalists believe quizlet?

Transcendentalists believed

in the soul

, and believed that each individual’s soul was a part of a universal soul. … It is the belief in the oversoul that caused Transcendentalists to believe that everyone should trust their intuition since the intuition was connected to that spiritual, god-like part of human nature.

How does Thoreau’s Walden reflect the principles of transcendentalism?

Thoreau’s idea of transcendentalism

stressed the importance of nature and being close to nature

. He believed that nature was a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. A walk in the woods therefore was a search for spiritual enlightenment. One should look ‘through’ nature, not merely ‘at’ her.

What Does Our life is frittered away by detail simplify simplify mean?

Thoreau is right

Frittering away our time means we feel like we’re accomplishing something, but we don’t have to do the hard work of being intentional about it. … How easy it is to waste our lives, Thoreau says. But if we do as he advises, if we “simplify, simplify,”

we’ll only be left with the important things

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Who said Our life is frittered away by detail?

Quote by

Henry David Thoreau

: “Our life is frittered away by detail.

How does Thoreau view nature?

When Thoreau perceives nature,

he sees an inexhaustible source of wisdom, beauty, and spiritual nourishment

. … Nature, open to all and free of excess, is the model for his life and the epitome of simplicity and independence.

What sort of life Thoreau would like to live upon?

He set out to live

a simple, solitary life

, and it was there that he ended up writing his best known works, Walden and Civil Disobedience. Walls says Thoreau scribbled notes in pencil on scraps of paper — descriptions of the sights, sounds, smells and feel of the things around him.

What does Thoreau mean when he says Simplify Simplify?

What does Thoreau mean by “Simplify, Simplify” ? …

Thoreau feels that busyness and clutter stop people from deliberating (thinking.)

What were Henry Thoreau’s thoughts on living a simple life?

Thoreau’s message, in short, is that

a simple life is a good life

, and in our age of ecological overshoot, this is a message deserving of our closest attention.

How does Thoreau want us to live?


I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life

, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” Life. It’s what Thoreau holds most dear.

What does it mean to live deliberately What does it mean to be self reliant?

To live deliberately is

to live in happiness by doing good to others

, and having loved ones by your side to share your happiness with.

What does we live meanly like ants?

Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men … it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.