Serving Admetus
Serving Admetus
Thoreau's journals reflect deep ambivalence about his work, referring to surveying at various times as “insignificant drudgery,” “a vulgar necessity,” “grinding at the mill of the philistines” and “barren work.” The journals also record the sense of loss he felt at the extent of New England's environmental transformation. In a particularly moving passage of November 9, 1850, Thoreau is struck by the beauty of “a young grove of pitch pines” but immediately considers their probable demise. The trees, it is lamented, are “regarded even by the woodman as ‘trash’” and are thus “destined for the locomotive's maw.” The great sadness of the passage, however, stems from Thoreau's discernment of the part he was to play in the destruction of the grove.
Keywords: journals, land surveying, New England, literary passages, grove, surveying notebook
Florida Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
