Nature and Walking
To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. --from Nature, Chapter One
"Certain writings should be read together, and these two make perfect partners. A beautiful new volume." -Walking
This volume cleverly combines Emerson's Nature with Thoreau's Walking in a single, affordable paperback. Though written nearly 30 years apart (1836 and 1862, respectively), the two works express similar feelings and make perfect companions.
The essay Nature bade John Muir forage for himself a new vocation that never before existed: wandering loose, and writing about the country. Emerson's wild metaphysic still underlies American nature writing and still caps American thinking about nature. --Annie Dillard, from On Nature
