Walden Quizzes

Walden Quiz 1

1 When does Thoreau first begin to build his house at Walden Pond?
December 1840

March 1845

July 1847

September 1854
2 When does Thoreau first move into his house at Walden Pond?
June 1

September 16

March 17

July 4
3 Where is Walden Pond located?
Lincoln, Nebraska

Concord, New Hampshire

Concord, Massachusetts

Lincoln, Massachusetts
4 According to Thoreau, which of the following is true of "the mass of men?"
They are "determined to live by faith."

They "live a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust."

They are "godlike, immortal."

They "lead lives of quiet desperation."
5 What does Thoreau not include in his understanding of "the necessary of life?"
Food

Fuel

Society

Shelter
6 How much did it cost Thoreau to build his house?
$23.44

$28.12

$14.72

$41.30
7 What illness did Thoreau's brother die from?
Consumption

Influenza

Lockjaw

Pneumonia
8 Which of the following ingredients were essential to Thoreau's most "convenient and agreeable" bread?
Yeast and salt

Sal soda

Flour

Rye and Indian meal
9 What sentiment does Thoreau express about "old people?"
"Theyare keen and subtle masters who enslave themselves with remembrance of failures past."

"The old alone remember life as it should be lived."

"The old have no very important advice to give the young."

"Their own experience is a valuable example, and their lives have been so varied and full."
10 What is the name of the farm Thoreau considers purchasing?
Brister

Hollowell

Fair-Haven

Baker
11 For Thoreau, what is the main attraction of the farm he considers purchasing?
The good strong wood in the tightly built farmhouse

Its fertile fields and grape arbors

Its distance from the village, neighbors, and the highway

Its proximity to Walden Pond and the Concord River
12 Which of the following quotes best represents Thoreau's understanding of God in time?
Good exists only "before Adam and after the last man."

God is "remote, in the outskirts of the system, beyond the farthest star."

God is a "thin current [that] slides away," always receding into the past.

God "culminates in the present moment."
13 What book does Thoreau keep on his table throughout the summer?
The Dialogues

The Odyssey

The Iliad

The Aeneid
14 Which of the following is not Thoreau's opinion of reading?
"The best books are not read even by those who are called good readers."

"We should be satisfied if we read or hear readthe wisdom of one good book."

"We should read the best that is in literature."

"The recorded wisdom of mankind, the ancient classics and the Bibleare accessible to all who will know them."
15 What, instead of hoeing beans, does Thoreau often do in summer mornings from sunrise till noon?
visit trees, such as others might visit scholars

sit in his sunny doorway, rapt in a revery

read once again the noble poetry of Homer

drift in the gentle breeze about the pond, while playing the flute
16 What is the name of the railroad that passes by Walden?
Fitchburg

Concord

Green Mountain

Boston and Maine
17 How does Thoreau feel about living alone, away from human companionship, at Walden?
He "feel[s] lonesome down there, and want[s] to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially."

He "find[s] it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time," spending "some of [his] pleasantest hoursduring the long rain storms."

He realizes "the near neighborhood of man is essential to a serene and healthy life," especially when "we meet only at short intervals."

He begins to doubt that he "can do without the society of [his] gossips a little while under these circumstances."
18 Which Greek goddess does Thoreau "worship" and consider to be "the only thoroughly sound-conditioned, healthy, and robust lady that ever walked the globe," saying also that "wherever she came it was spring."
Persephone

Hebe

Hygeia

Juno
19 In the story he recounts of the visit Winslow, later the governor of Plymouth Colony, pays on Indian chief Massasoit, what does Thoreau say that Winslow failed to understand about the Indians lack of food?
The Indians' "barbarous singing" was actually an expression of their shame over not having enough food for their guests.

According to Algonquin tradition custom, the Pilgrims should have delayed their visit until a season of plenty.

The Pilgrims, in fact, had been expected to bring food enough for a feast.

The Indians wisely knew that apologies could not replace food for their guests and so said nothing about the lack of food.
20 What does Thoreau credit as the reason for the French-Canadian woodcutter's slumbering intellectual and spiritual nature?
He has been educated not to a man's degree of consciousness but only to a child's degree of trust and reverence.

The wise poetic consciousness he possesses would be spoiled by philosophical thought.

His exuberance of animal spirits make the joys such as those Thoreau gains from intellectual endeavors unnecessary for him.

Most men have little natural capacity for spiritual growth, and he is the most simple and natural man Thoreau has ever known.
21 Which of the following criticisms of the way Thoreau tends his beanfield do passing farmers not offer?
They whisper about him planting beans and peas so late in the summer, when other farmers have begun to hoe.

They scoff at his decision to use no fertilizer.

They warn him against doing any work in the field when the dew is on.

They advise him to hoe the fields of such tender bean crops only by hand.
22 In what way does Thoreau believe the sun looks down on cultivated fields and prairies and forests?
Jealousy, regarding the soil as his own property which has been stolen by men for their profit.

With special favor upon those few souls who remember that husbandry is a sacred art.

Without distinction, perceiving all the earth to be equally cultivated like a garden.

Blindly and dumbly, impotent to stop the destruction of the land by the railroad and other human "progress."
23 To what classical myth does Thoreau compare the gantlet he runs when passing through the village?
Orpheus, who by keeping his thoughts on high things while walking through the underworld kept out of danger

The Trojan horse, because he feels like an outsider in the village, whose differences from themselves none of his townsmen can recognize

Atalanta, racing as fast as she can for an autonomous life, controlled by no other man

The labors of Hercules, so difficult it is for him to avoid temptations like the tavern, jewellers, and shoe-maker.
24 What story does Thoreau not recount for the origins of Walden Pond and its rocky shore?
The rocks around its edges form from the action of the waves upon the hills, which are filled with many such stones hence, Walled-in Pond.

The pond formed when a glacier melted, bringing the pure waters of the Arctic to Concord, to be spread again throughout the world in the form of ice cut and sold from the pond in winter. The name is the name of a merchant who first prospected the area.

An ancient settler with a divining rod detected a thin vapor rising and dug a well where Walden is. The name possibly comes from an English locality, such as Saffron Walden.

It was formed when a group of Indians holding a powwow on a mountain were struck down, forming an indentation in the earth where the mountain had been. It was named after the sole survivor, an old squaw named Walden.
25 Which of the many area ponds does Thoreau consider Walden's twin, based on the purity of its water and stony shores?
Goose Pond

Flint's Pond

Fair-Haven Pond

White Pond

Thoreau’s account of living in the woods in paragraph 1 is told primarily in the tense, from a point of view.

C. past; first-person

'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life..."

Asked by Tasia P #1123851

Answered by jill d #170087 on 9/29/2023 10:56 AM

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Walden

Thoreau suggests that owning land is not all it's cracked up to be. He suggests that landowners sell their land and eliminate unnecessary responsiblities. Freedom from property allows people the time and freedom to do as they please.

Asked by Travis W #1186008

Answered by Aslan on 10/27/2021 2:45 AM

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How many days per year does Thoreau say it is necessary to work in order to provide a modest lifestyle for oneself?

Chapter please?

Asked by brittany a #650239

Answered by jill d #170087 on 5/9/2017 1:51 AM

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Walden

by Henry David Thoreau

Walden Quiz 1

Walden Questions and Answers

Study Guide for Walden

Essays for Walden

Lesson Plan for Walden

E-Text of Walden

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