Walden Man and the Natural World Quotes

A Muse is the person or thing that inspires a poet's work. So, Thoreau bemoans the fact that many of the woods around Walden Pond have been chopped up, because there's nothing left for a poet to celebrate. We should conserve nature not only for ecological reasons, but for literary ones as well.

Thoreau's nature is "wild," not the kind of domesticated nature you might find in a farm or a park – or a petting zoo.

Like many vegetarians, Thoreau won't eat meat because he feels that animals experience pain and suffering just as humans do.