Thoughts, Questions, Musings on "Sounds"

“By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it.” 

Thoughts on “Sounds”

Again—please feel free to comment upon any of these questions on our blog.

1.)  On the first page of the essay ‘Sounds’ HDT writes: “We are in danger of forgetting the language which all things and events speak without metaphor, which alone is copious and standard.” Do you think this is true—whey have we forgotten this language? With that being said, I think of how shocked some of you must have been during Common Period on Tuesday when the man said, ‘The drum has its own language.”

2.)  Why is the need for being ‘forever alert’ a necessity? How does nature teach us this essential truth of life?

3.)  What does HDT say about the process of cleaning his house? Where does he put his belongings and how does he say they look in this setting? Perhaps, you should try this exercise in order to see if HDT’s suggestion has merit.

4.)  When was the last time you heard birds at Berwick Academy? Why did you hear them? Are they not always around or do we just fail to notice them? With that being said, I see birds everyday—I wonder if you do, and I wonder if you are thinking about what they are currently telling us about nature or what essential fact of life they are driving in the corner for us to examine?

5.)  What is one of the mechanical sounds HDT constantly hears and what are his thoughts about this sound?

6.)  HDT writes: “Now that the cars are gone by and all the restless world with them, and the fishes in the pound no longer feel their rumbling, I am more alone than ever.” What is the restless world, who belongs to this world, and why is it restless? And oh yeah, I ask again—is HDT alone?

7.)  How do the sounds of the birds tell us what time it is better than any bell tower? What are the birds HDT talks about in ‘Sounds?” What does he say about each one?

8.)  Near the end of the essay—HDT rolls out the knowledge grenade: “It would put nations on the alert.” What would put nations on alert and why would it have this impact?

Last thought—do you have the time, the space, the form, the thoughts to be more than a machine? Now that is a good question, but I am not going to answer it—but I will say, I am working hard and while the hard work might appear to be random thoughts, I do promise that meander to the path that my ideas have forged. 

Good luck—again, I ask, what else can I do to help you?

Questions to consider when reading "Reading"

Let us TRANSCEND—WE must rise above the work we have currently done

Questions to consider when reading “Reading.” Please feel free to respond to any of these question on our blog:

On the first page of “Reading,” Thoreau writes: “That time which we really improve, or which is improvable, is neither past, present, nor future.” What is the time that HDT is referring to and why does it not belong to the past, present, or future?

2.)  Why is HDT’s residence more ‘favorable, not only to thought, but to serious reading, than a university?’ This idea comes from a man who lives at Walden but attended another intuition for a period of time in Cambridge, Mass.

3.)  According to HDT, why will the adventurous student always study classics, even if the stories and language is old?

4.)  Why does HDT offer the idea “[reading] is the work of art nearest to life itself?” Why does he believe this and is their natural merit and wisdom in this assertion?

5.)  How does reading help us ‘scaling heaven at last?’ Thus, what is the true value of books and what is the natural value of reading the written word?

6.)  On page 100 of my book, I read: “The best books are not read even by those who are called good readers.” Who are the ‘good readers’ and why do they not read the ‘best books?’ More to the point, what are the best books?

7.)  Why does Thoreau suggest that “books exist for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones?” What are the miracles that books are able to explain and what is a book that revealed a miracle to you?

8.)  What is the ‘uncommon school?’ How do books, and how does reading, play a vital role in the excellence of that school?

9.)  What do books, what does reading, allow us to do?

What is one book, because of reading it, that has changed your life? That has forced you to understand more fully one of the ‘essential facts of life?’

 

I will end with a few words from HDT: “In dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change nor accident” BUT more importantly, and the last word from me tonight, “To read well, that is to read true books in a true spirit, is a _______________excercise.”

So I will just ask, are you worthy of that blank—are you worthy of that title…and I would suggest that you hand yourselves over to this worthy offering.

 

See you tomorrow.

Today

All I will say is that we need to do better than we did today--from my vantage point and from the way our conversation went today, I would say that many of you need to do the following:
1.) Read--I think that many of you have not been doing the reading. Again, I will say that there is a handful of you that have not read the bulk of Emerson's nature or HDT's "Walden"
2.) Read in order to understand NOT just to get the assignment done--many of you are reading just to do the assignment instead of working on trying to understand what the purpose of the assignment really is.
3.) Annotate when you read or take notes as you are reading or post ideas on our class blog.

If we continue down this path--our destination will change--and we will be forced to evolve with it.

Walden Help No.2

In order to highlight your understanding of the text compose a list of the five most important moments from last night's reading:

Example of one of those moments from "Solitude"
1.) p.129, "Society is commonly too cheap." In this moment H.D.T is suggesting that the world, state, organizations, that we live in water down the importance of life by placing value on things that are priceless but co-opting the importance of those items when they force us to by into their pre-determined value. Perhaps, he is also suggesting that the things we value, are expensive, are really worthless--and other things like honesty, truth, solitude, nature are made cheap by the worlds in which we reside.

Walden Help No. 1

In order to better understand the sections "Solitude" and "The Village" please post two questions (one for each chapter) that you think if answered thoroughly and correctly would highlight a person's knowledge and understanding of those readings?

Example:
Why does H.D.T suggest, "It is a surprising and memorable, as well as valuable experience, to be lost in the woods any time?" Do you think H.D.T would believe that you are ever 'truly lost' in the woods--and why would this experience be valuable and memorable--what would it teach you about solitude?