Autumnal Tints

by Henry David Thoreau

Book Overview

Two institutions of New England, our fall colors and Henry David Thoreau, are brought together in this posthumously published rumination on Nature. Autumnal Tints was originally published in the October 1862 Atlantic Monthly.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155709442X
• ISBN13: 9781557094421
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Applewood Books
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 4.8" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

unforgotten nature

It is a beautiful text that revels in nature's exuberant expression and rescues her vital value to man. To witness Thoreau's love of nature is pure joy. There is no better teacher than he ... to learn Nature's lessons through his eyes.

An essay omitted from many anthologies

Published in _Atlantic Monthly_ five months after his death, this essay describes the colors of the New England landscape as Henry David Thoreau saw them in the mid-1800s. His motivation for writing such words seems to have been his neighbors' apathy and indifference toward the natural world, for "A man sees only what concerns him." And so Thoreau speaks of the beauty of purple grasses and of maples, elms, and oaks. He doesn't mind the fallen willow leaves that land in his boat and doesn't clean them out -- he accepts them as extra cushioning for his seat. One wonders what Henry would think now, when tourists are apt to drive to New England on fall weekends, just to see the leaves. There's no earth-shattering revelations in this booklet. It's just an easy read for a crisp and bright October day.