excerpt from “Solitude” by Henry David Thoreau


This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt sleeves, though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me, all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump to usher in the night, and the note of the whippoorwill is borne on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet, like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature’s watchmen, —links which connect the days of animated life. . . .


Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves. . . . Men frequently say to me, “I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially.” I am tempted to reply to such,—This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.In "Solitude," what can be inferred about the author's relationship with the natural world?


1. Which sentence best expresses the author’s viewpoint about nature in "Solitude"?


Nature is dangerous yet attractive.


Nature is beautiful, calming, and inspiring.


Nature is filled with excitement and adventure.


Nature is filled with unknowable mysteries.



Read this excerpt from “Solitude” by Henry David Thoreau.


The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods without fear. They are Nature’s watchmen —links which connect the days of animated life.


How does Thoreau distinguish the natural world, perhaps in contrast to the human world?


He characterizes nature by its constant alertness and activity.


He describes the manner by which the forest sustains life.


He characterizes nature by its lack of reservation.


He describes the organized structure of the forest world.

3. He is happiest in nature when it is at its most unpleasant.


He prefers the natural world to the company of other people.


He feels that human society has become too cold and impersonal.


He feels lonely only when there are no animals around.

Question 2

Part B


Which sentence best supports the answer in Part A?



“Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in the spring or fall.”


“I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.”


“I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself.”


“They are Nature’s watchmen,—links which connect the days of animated life.”

4.Read the central idea from "A Home Away from Home." Grandma Rose was an important person in the narrator's life. How does the author develop this central idea over the course of the memoir? Select the two correct answers.

by explaining that both she and Grandma Rose were considered stubborn

by explaining that she was named Caroline Rose after her Grandma Rose

by observing that Grandma Rose was the center of her family's universe

by describing herself as a lost book that had finally been returned to its shelf