A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
First published 1849 · English · 286 pages
- Novels
- Travel
Thoreau's first book describes a boat trip he took with his brother John in 1839 along two New England rivers. Day by day, the narrative follows the journey while wandering into reflections on history, poetry, friendship, religion and nature. It also remembers his brother, who died a few years before the book appeared. The result is part travel account and part meditation, and it shows the themes and style that Thoreau developed more fully in later work.
Quotes
Gradually the village murmur subsided, and we seemed to be embarked on the placid current of our dreams, floating from past to future as silently as one awakes to fresh morning or evening thoughts.
You can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be.
There are various, nay, incredible faiths; why should we be alarmed at any of them? What man believes, God believes.
As we passed under the last bridge over the canal, just before reaching the Merrimack, the people coming out of church paused to look at us from above, and apparently, so strong is custom, indulged in some heathenish comparisons; but we were the truest observers of this sunny day