Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Can you help explain this Henry David Thoreau Quote to me?

I have to explain how the quote relates to me but I'm not totally sure what it means. I'm 16 and in 11th grade if it helps you with how to explain it to me.

P.S. I'm not asking you to do my homework, I'm just unsure of the quote...

Here it is:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I have not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear…”

Also, If you don't know much about literature or Thoreau, you might not understand it...

3 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately"--he wants to experience every moment of his life. He wants to understand his existence, rather than simply exist. He doesn't want to die without ever having contemplated what it means to live--simply and as one with nature.

  • 1 decade ago

    He's saying that he went to the woods to live. To experience "life." To see how and why the birds chirp. When and how quickly the trees bud and flower and shed their leaves. He watched how the pond changed with the seasons. Watched birds go from chicks being fed by their mothers to flying creatures who sought out their own food. He wanted to study every aspect of life in every living thing he could find...so he could gain some understanding of what "life" was really about. He did it because he thought that these more basic things were the true meaning of life and he wanted to be as informed about it all as he could possibly be.

  • shomer
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    i think of its like this woman i recognize: She is only form of undeniable finding on the exterior, yet she is so candy and giving and being concerned; when you get to nicely known her a sprint, you already know that she is quite appealing.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.