Books Quote by Henry David Thoreau
““English literature, from the days of the minstrels to the Lake Poets—Chaucer and Spenser and Milton, and even Shakespeare, included—breathes no quite fresh and, in this sense, wild strain. It is an essentially tame and civilized literature, reflecting Greece and Rome. … Where is the literature which gives expression to Nature? ... I do not know of any poetry to quote which adequately expresses this yearning for the Wild. ... The West is preparing to add its fables to those of the East. The valleys of the Ganges, the Nile, and the Rhine having yielded their crop, it remains to be seen what the valleys of the Amazon, the Plate, the Orinoco, the St. Lawrence, and the Mississippi will produce.””
About This Quote
Thoreau laments Western literature’s classical restraint and urges a new, untamed poetic voice rooted in diverse natural landscapes.
In simple terms: Western literature is overly tame.
Key Takeaway
Seek wild, nature‑driven expression.
Themes
literary criticism
nature vs. civilization
cultural expansion
romanticism
Mood
reflective
longing
Type
essay
manifesto
When to use this quote
- academic lectures on literary history
- creative workshops exploring non‑Western settings
Key Concepts
Western canon
exoticism
Practical Applications
- curriculum redesign
- inspirational essays
Questions to Reflect On
- What would a truly 'wild' poem sound like?
- How does geography shape literary imagination?
