Part of the Book
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 had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For"
Analysis
Literary Devices used in this Book: Symbolism, Imagery, and Allegory. I chose this specific part because I believe this is the most important part and this part also shows part of the moral of this book. The main idea of the Book is that you dont need all this fancy technology or during Thoreau's time, anything really. All you need to live is all the most important things: Water, Shelter, Food. Also the shelter doesn't even need too big. For example, Thoreau managed to live in a 14 acre house for 2 years. This passage also uses a ton of metaphors and similes mainly because it is relating life with things in life, if you will.