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Posthumously published in 1864 The Maine Woods, depicts Henry David Thoreau's experiences in the forests of Maine, and expands on the author's transcendental theories on the relation of humanity to Nature. On Mount Katahdin, he faces a primal, untamed Nature. Katahdin is a place "not even scarred by man, but it was a specimen of what God saw fit to make this world." In Maine he comes in contact with ?rocks, trees, wind and solid earth? as though he were witness to the creation itself. Of equal importance, The Maine Woods depicts Thoreau's contact with the American Indians and depicts his tribal education of learning the language, customs, and mores of the Penobscot people. Thoreau attempts to learn and speak the Abenaki language and becomes fascinated with its direct translation of natural phenomena as in the word sebamook-a river estuary that never loses is water despite having an outlet because it also has an inlet. The Maine Woods illustrates the author's deeper understanding of the complexities of the primal wilderness of uplifted rocky summits in Maine and provides the reader with the pungent aroma of balsam firs, black spruce, mosses, and ferns as only Thoreau could. This new, redesigned edition features an insightful foreword by Thoreau scholar Richard Francis Fleck.
List of contents
FOREWORD:
“DEEP IN THE WOODS WITH
HENRY THOREAU” by Richard F. Fleck
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
KTAADN
CHESUNCOOK
THE ALLEOASH AND EAST BRANCH
APPENDIX
I. Trees
II. Flowers and Shrubs
III. List of Plants
IV. List of Birds
V. Quadrupeds
VI. Outfit for an Excursion
VII. A List of Indian Words
About the author
Henry David Thoreau, born July 12, 1817, was a naturalist, author, philosopher and transcendentalist who was best known for his 1854 book Walden; or Life in the Woods. That book, and many of Thoreau's essays and speeches, concerned themselves with the importance of living a plain and simple life in natural environments removed from civilization, leading to more self-reliance and spiritual discovery. Thoreau's other most well-known work is his 1849 essay "Civil Disobedience" which led to his often being referred to as an anarchist, which he heartily accepted. In his later years he maintained his fascination with travel and excursions and became more interested in land surveying. He died on May 6, 1862, at the age of 44 just a couple of years after a late-night rainstorm outing to count the rings of tree stumps when he fell ill with bronchitis, which eventually led to him becoming bedridden. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote the biographical sketch to Excursions, which was published a posthumously in 1862, wrote the eulogy that was read at Thoreau's funeral. His remains, originally buried at a family plot, were later relocated to Author's Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Other notable writers buried in that location include Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
