Intimate and familiar
A striking idea, that in being true, a book will feel intimate and familiar to all men. 'True' surely means...
Ebbs and flows of the soul
A journal as a beach gathering shells, seaweed and pearls washed up by the soul in the course of a...
The heart of a rock
Having commented on the inaccessibility of rocks to the human spirit, Thoreau points out how much softer they can...
A wilderness of books
This vast languishing resource was first brought home to me in Erik Reinert's How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and...
Sea-like sound
I like the description of a sound in the trees resembling the sea; land and water confounded.
'There...
Schoolboy sketches
Maurice Cramer was a Geneva schoolboy who joined his classmates in August 1870 for a school trip to discover Champéry. ...
Imply vs express, whole vs part
Again, a wonderful, provocative and pithy comment by Thoreau. I'm now looking at poetry and asking how far it implies...
A straight-cut ditch or a meandering brook
Thoreau's comment about education will resonate today with many teachers and students, but I am glad he included the word...
Like the lowing of a cow
Nature's hoarse summer voice? Wind shuffling leaves and crickets rubbing hands together? I like the metaphor, but nevertheless can't quite...
As free and lawless as a lamb’s bleat
First, the unusual simile, I never thought of a lamb's bleat as free or lawless. Then the idea that a...
Of tea and stars
A charming juxtaposition of homeliness and magnificence - people drinking tea but noticing a sky sprinkled with stars.
Waking like a bullet
While I don't relish bullets striking things, I like the occasional quickness of a sleep-satiated body waking up, alert to...
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