- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Foreword
- A Note on Sources
- Introduction
-
1 An Eye for Trees - Against the Sky a Tree has Parts
-
2 A Heart for Trees - Heartwood
-
3 A Poet’s Trees - Woodplay
-
4 A Mind for Trees - Forest Lessons
-
5 A Soul for Trees - As High a Heaven
-
6 My Emblem, The Pine - Paeans to the Pine
-
7 Knighting Elms - Death of a Concord Kingpost
-
8 A Kingdom of Primitive Oaks - Boxborough’s Ancient Oaks
-
9 Transformed by Snow - A World Made New
-
10 In a Barque of Bark - Sailing a Sea of Green
- Acknowledgments
- Bibliography
- List of Thoreau Excerpts
- Illustration Credits
- Index
- Index
Introduction
Introduction
Speaking the Language of Trees
- Chapter:
- Introduction
- Source:
- Thoreau and the Language of Trees
- Author(s):
Richard Higgins
Richard Higgins
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
Trees played a major role in Thoreau’s life and work. He responded to them with his eye, his heart, his muse, his mind and his soul. He related to trees emotionally and understood them as a naturalist. They fed his creativity and deepened his thought. He wrote of them as if he could see the sap beneath their bark. In short, he spoke their language. He loved their beauty, wildness, patience and persistence. Trees suggested the “ancient rectitude” of nature.” Nothing stands up more free from blame than a pine tree.” Trees also emerge in his writings as special emblems and images of the divine. On his 200th birthday, Thoreau is still helping us see trees in new ways.
Keywords: Thoreau’s, heart, muse, mind, soul, study, creativity, beauty, wildness, patience, persistence, landscape, big trees, 200th birthday
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Foreword
- A Note on Sources
- Introduction
-
1 An Eye for Trees - Against the Sky a Tree has Parts
-
2 A Heart for Trees - Heartwood
-
3 A Poet’s Trees - Woodplay
-
4 A Mind for Trees - Forest Lessons
-
5 A Soul for Trees - As High a Heaven
-
6 My Emblem, The Pine - Paeans to the Pine
-
7 Knighting Elms - Death of a Concord Kingpost
-
8 A Kingdom of Primitive Oaks - Boxborough’s Ancient Oaks
-
9 Transformed by Snow - A World Made New
-
10 In a Barque of Bark - Sailing a Sea of Green
- Acknowledgments
- Bibliography
- List of Thoreau Excerpts
- Illustration Credits
- Index
- Index