Allusion in Walden

Having mentioned Homer's Iliad earlier, this simile alludes to Book III, in which a similar metaphor is conveyed:

the Trojans advanced as a flight of wild fowl or cranes that scream overhead when rain and winter drive them over the flowing waters of Oceanus to bring death and destruction on the Pygmies, and they wrangle in the air as they fly;

This text selection is from an anonymous 16th-century song. Thoreau uses this text here to question the philosophy of the shepherd, wondering why the shepherd’s thoughts should be limited only to the heights his flock will venture.

In Greek mythology, Memnon is a king of Ethiopia and is the son of Aurora, the goddess of the morning, and a mortal named Tithonus.

While context in this sentence helps readers understand that "chanticleer" is a rooster, it is also an allusion to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and "The Nun's Priest's Tale" in particular. The proud, fierce rooster named Chanticleer dominates the barnyard.

In Greek mythology, the Titan Atlas was condemned by Zeus to hold up the sky and the heavens on his shoulders for eternity. Thoreau invokes this myth to illustrate his willingness to enjoy these advantages even if they require enormous amounts of strength and endurance.

William Cowper (1731–1800) was an 18th-century English poet, hymnodist, and considered one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. This line is from his 1782 work The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk.

In Greek mythology, Atropos is one of the three Fates, who are often depicted as spinning the threads of life and destiny for gods and mortals alike. Atropos is the Fate who cuts the thread of life. Thoreau considers this an apt name for the train because its schedule forces people to conform to a destiny besides their own.

Thoreau is referring to the legendary Swiss folk hero, William Tell. According to legend, Tell was an expert marksman with a crossbow who resisted and ultimately killed a tyrannical representative, named Gessler, from Hapsburg Austria. Part of the legend involves William Tell’s shooting an arrow off of his son’s head as part of a cruel ploy by Gessler.

This passage is an excerpt from Chinese philosopher Confucius's Analects. The central idea of the passage is one Thoreau has touched upon throughout the chapter: people need less governance and fewer resources than they commonly think.

This is a reference to Alexander Pope (1688–1744), a neoclassical-era English poet and satirist. Pope used heroic couplets to translate Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Thoreau subsequently quotes one of Pope’s couplets.

In Greek mythology, the Sirens are a group of creatures—half-monster, half-women—who sing so beautifully that they lure mariners to destruction on the rocks that surround their island. Thoreau alludes to the Sirens as a comparison for the neighbors who invite him over. He envisions himself as Orpheus, drowning out these invitations so as not to accept them.

Orpheus was a central figure of Greek mythology. He was an exceptionally gifted musician and poet, known for his ability to enthrall animals with his performances. The quotation about Orpheus Thoreau uses comes from “Wisdom of the Ancients,” a work of collected mythology by the English Elizabethan-era author Francis Bacon.

These phrases are drawn from the poem “Icarus” by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649), a Scottish poet.

The Icarian Sea is a subsection of the Aegean Sea that lies between the Cyclades and Asia Minor. It is named for Icarus, who according to Greek mythology, flew too close to the sun while wearing wings made from feathers and wax. The wings melted and he drowned at sea while his father Daedalus watched.

According to Greek mythology, the Castalian Fountain is a source of poetic inspiration and a site sacred to the Muses. The fountain is supposedly located at the summit of Mount Parnassus. The fountain originated with the nymph Castalia, who was chased by Apollo until she transformed into the legendary fountain.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) was a prominent Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. Michelangelo drew studies, usually based on live models, in preparation for his sculptures. These studies have a distinctive style of shading that gives the skin and flesh a look of rippling water. It is this feature that Thoreau alludes to.

The adjective “ambrosial” comes from the noun “ambrosia,” a sweet beverage consumed by the gods, heroes, and deities of ancient Greek mythology. This is neither the first nor the last reference Thoreau makes to Greek mythology in “Walden.” Thoreau describes the “ambrosial… part of the fruit” to describe its essence of wild, natural perfection which is lost when the fruit is picked and packed for commercial consumption.

This phrase is drawn from the poem “Lycidas” by the influential English poet John Milton (1608 - 1674). Because “Lycidas” is a pastoral elegy, a poem that is set in nature and memorializes the natural world, it serves as a fitting reference point for Thoreau.

These lines are drawn from John Donne's (1572–1631) poem “To Sir Edward Herbert.” The topic is that of sensuality, which Thoreau sees as a single human phenomenon that stands as the polar opposite to purity. The Donne poem uses the metaphor of animals as the baser, or more instinctual, impulses of the human psyche. In a clever use of language, Donne recommends that one “disafforest” the mind. That is to say, one is rewarded for removing the forest where the animals of instinct and carnality dwell. This discussion ties into one of Thoreau’s broader questions in “Walden”: how ought we to live? For Thoreau, the life of the body is an important moral consideration.

Meng Ke (ca. 372–289 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and the most famous disciple of Confucius. Thoreau agreed with many of the concepts of the Confucian school, namely the idea that humans are inherently good and noble.

The commentator Thoreau cites is Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833), an Indian religious thinker and politician. The quotation is a translation from the Hindu Vedas.

This is a reference to the Vedas, the ancient scriptural texts that form the foundations of Hinduism. Thoreau was deeply interested in Hindu religion and philosophy and read the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas during his solitary stints of reading and writing at Walden Pond.

The quoted nun appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's (ca. 1343–1400) estates satire The Canterbury Tales. The nun’s comment suggests that hunters are not necessarily holy, an idea which Thoreau entertains in his moral weighing of hunting and meat-eating.

This couplet is from Claudius Claudianus's (ca. 370 – ca. 404) “The Old Man of Verona.” Thoreau’s translation in the following couplet changes “Iberians,” meaning people from Spain or Portugal, to “Australians” to make it more relevant to his readers.

This is a selection from English poet William Habington’s (1605–1664) poem “To My Honoured Friend Sir Ed. P. Knight.” Habington’s poems reflect on the uncertainty of life.

The Spanish theologian and poet Joseph Blanco White (1775–1841) dedicated his most memorable work, the sonnet “Night and Death,” to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Thoreau is quoting from White’s “Night and Death.”

This biblical allusion is from Ecclesiastes 9:4, which in the King James version reads “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Thoreau uses this allusion to indicate his preference for his “modern” society because it is dynamic compared to the mighty or “intellectual” past, which he believes is dead.

According to Greek mythology, the Sphinx is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. In the myth and drama of Oedipus the King she posed a riddle (“What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?”) to travelers and killed those who gave the wrong answer. Oedipus solved the Sphinx's riddle and became King of Thebes. The Sphinx is commonly referred to as a possessor of enigmatic knowledge.