Abstract Henry David Thoreau, an important writer in American literature in the 19th century, was also a representative of nature writing. He advocated that people should disentangle themselves from the complicated life and return to nature.
Thoreau put all his love for nature and his thinking about life into his masterpiece Walden. Its unique linguistic style attracts many readers. Walden is abundant with rhetorical devices including analogy, personification, satire and humor, symbolism etc. The employment of rhetoric makes the work not only more outstanding in its word style, but also more precious in the literary value.
This paper elaborates on the unique meanings of the rhetorical devices employed in this great prose by means of example interpretation, combined with the creating background of Walden. By doing so, we can have a thorough knowledge of Thoreau’s viewpoints about simple living.54406
Keywords: Walden; Thoreau; rhetorical devices; simple living
摘要亨利·戴维·梭罗是19世纪美国文学史上一位重要的作家，也是自然写作的代表。他提倡人们应从复杂的生活中解脱出来，回归自然。梭罗把对自然的热爱和对生活的感悟都融入他的杰作《瓦尔登湖》一书中。它独特的语言风格吸引了无数读者。该书大量运用比喻、拟人、讽刺、幽默和象征等修辞手法，不仅使作品在语言风格上更突出，也使其在文学价值方面更加弥足珍贵。本文结合《瓦尔登湖》一书的写作背景，举例阐述了该书中修辞手法的含义。这样，我们就可以清楚的了解梭罗的简单生活观。
毕业论文关键字：瓦尔登湖；梭罗；修辞手法; 简单生活
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 1
2.1 A Brief Review of the Former and Current Study 1
2.2 The Necessity of Interpreting the Rhetorical Devices in Walden 2
3. Examples and Analysis 3
3.1 Analogy 3
3.2 Personification 5
3.3 Satire and Humor 7
3.4 Symbolism 10
4. A Brief Summary of Thoreau’s Thoughts 12
5. Conclusion 12
Works Cited 14
1. Introduction
Since the Industrial Revolution, environmental pollution has been aggravated alarmingly, and not been fully resolved until today. In contrast to the increasing of material wealth, human’s spiritual world is shrinking drastically. Under such circumstances, many artists and writers started to reflect on the relationship between man and nature. Henry David Thoreau, the greatest American philosopher, poet, and environmental scientist during the Romantic Period, incorporated all his love for nature and his perception of life into his book Walden.
Although Walden was published 100 years ago, as a college student, rather a common person in China, it is necessary to read this book. During the 100 years, China has made huge progress in technology and much improvement in material well-being, which however, results in the damage to the environment and the loss in a bustling tumultuous world. Reading Walden, the classic work in nature writing, and appreciating Thoreau’s thoughts, will calm down one’s relentless heart, reinforce his environmental awareness and encourage him to pursue a kind of simple and meaningful life.
2. Literature Review
2.1 A Brief Review of the Former and Current Study 从修辞的角度解读《瓦尔登湖》的语言魅力及梭罗的思想:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_58621.html