Thoreau, Homer, and Community

Abstract

Notes that while many Thoreau scholars have commented on his firm grasp on the classics, there are still some new connections to be drawn between Walden and the specific passages of the Iliad to which Walden refers. Suggests Thoreau’s choices about which sections of the Iliad to cite offer an interesting glance into some of his interior dilemmas: his difficulties with sexuality, his divided sensibilities about friendship, and his uncertainty about the proper amount of sacrifice an individual should make in the name of a larger community.