Walden Quizzes

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

December 1840

July 1847

March 1845

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

March 17

September 16

June 1

July 4
3 Where is Walden Pond located?

Concord, New Hampshire

Lincoln, Nebraska

Concord, Massachusetts

Lincoln, Massachusetts
4 According to Thoreau, which of the following is true of "the mass of men?"

They "lead lives of quiet desperation."

They are "godlike, immortal."

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

They are "determined to live by faith."
5 What does Thoreau not include in his understanding of "the necessary of life?"

Fuel

Society

Shelter

Food
6 How much did it cost Thoreau to build his house?

$14.72

$28.12

$23.44

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

Pneumonia

Influenza

Consumption

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

Yeast and salt

Rye and Indian meal

Flour

Sal soda
9 What sentiment does Thoreau express about "old people?"

"Theyare keen and subtle masters who enslave themselves with remembrance of failures past."

"Their own experience is a valuable example, and their lives have been so varied and full."

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

"The old have no very important advice to give the young."
10 What is the name of the farm Thoreau considers purchasing?

Hollowell

Brister

Fair-Haven

Baker
11 For Thoreau, what is the main attraction of the farm he considers purchasing?

Its fertile fields and grape arbors

The good strong wood in the tightly built farmhouse

Its proximity to Walden Pond and the Concord River

Its distance from the village, neighbors, and the highway
12 Which of the following quotes best represents Thoreau's understanding of God in time?

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

Good exists only "before Adam and after the last man."

God "culminates in the present moment."

God is "remote, in the outskirts of the system, beyond the farthest star."
13 What book does Thoreau keep on his table throughout the summer?

The Odyssey

The Dialogues

The Aeneid

The Iliad
14 Which of the following is not Thoreau's opinion of reading?

"The recorded wisdom of mankind, the ancient classics and the Bibleare accessible to all who will know them."

"The best books are not read even by those who are called good readers."

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

"We should be satisfied if we read or hear readthe wisdom of one good book."
15 What, instead of hoeing beans, does Thoreau often do in summer mornings from sunrise till noon?

drift in the gentle breeze about the pond, while playing the flute

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
16 What is the name of the railroad that passes by Walden?

Concord

Fitchburg

Green Mountain

Boston and Maine
17 How does Thoreau feel about living alone, away from human companionship, at Walden?

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

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 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."

Hebe

Persephone

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?

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.

The Indians' "barbarous singing" was actually an expression of their shame over not having enough food for their guests.
20 What does Thoreau credit as the reason for the French-Canadian woodcutter's slumbering intellectual and spiritual nature?

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.

He has been educated not to a man's degree of consciousness but only to a child's degree of trust and reverence.
21 Which of the following criticisms of the way Thoreau tends his beanfield do passing farmers not offer?

They advise him to hoe the fields of such tender bean crops only by hand.

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 whisper about him planting beans and peas so late in the summer, when other farmers have begun to hoe.
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.

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."

With special favor upon those few souls who remember that husbandry is a sacred art.
23 To what classical myth does Thoreau compare the gantlet he runs when passing through the village?

The labors of Hercules, so difficult it is for him to avoid temptations like the tavern, jewellers, and shoe-maker.

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

Orpheus, who by keeping his thoughts on high things while walking through the underworld kept out of danger
24 What story does Thoreau not recount for the origins of Walden Pond and its rocky shore?

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.

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.

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.

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.
25 Which of the many area ponds does Thoreau consider Walden's twin, based on the purity of its water and stony shores?

White Pond

Goose Pond

Flint's Pond

Fair-Haven Pond

Walden Quiz 1

Essays for Walden

Lesson Plan for Walden

E-Text of Walden

Wikipedia Entries for Walden