Wild Apples

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 51K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Wild Apples by Henry David ThoreauAuthor: Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: May 1, 2003

Editor's review

Wild Apples is Thoreau's natural history essay on the wild apple, part of his later writing: brief in length yet rich in interest. Taking the wild apple as his thread, Thoreau links botanical observation, rural scenery, memories of taste, and reflections on civilization: he traces the distribution and variation of wild apples in the North American countryside, appraises the fruit flavors of different varieties, and uses the wildness and tenacity of the wild apple to contrast with the domestication and degeneration of cultivated trees. The prose continues Thoreau's lifelong interest in natural history and his crisp, austere style, offering both detailed phenological records and meditations on the relationship between nature and humanity. For readers familiar with Walden, this work can be read alongside its passages on gathering, cultivation, and walks in the wild, revealing how Thoreau turned an unremarkable fruit into prose both informative and philosophical. It suits a quiet afternoon or a walk before or after an autumn day, to be dipped into a section or two without haste.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who admire Thoreau and American nature writing and wish to explore more of his essays
Readers interested in natural history, botanical observation, and rural scenery
English learners who want to practice close reading with short English essays
Readers who enjoy noticing natural details on walks and through the changing seasons

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic botanical monograph or a manual of apple cultivation
Readers who prefer strong plot-driven narratives and the quick momentum of a page-turner
Beginners who find nineteenth-century English prose difficult and have little patience for it at present

Reading tips

Read through once to take in the overall tone, then read section by section, noting observations and reflections and marking botanical descriptions that interest you.
Read alongside the passages in Walden on wild fruit, gathering, and the seasons to appreciate the continuity of Thoreau's nature writing.
After reading, observe fruit trees or wild fruit around you in autumn and keep your own phenological notes, comparing your approach with Thoreau's.
If reading the original English, infer plant common names from context rather than looking up every word, so as to keep your reading rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How does this work relate to Walden?

Wild Apples is one of Thoreau's natural history essays, sharing themes with the passages in Walden on wild fruit, gathering, the turning of the seasons, and rural life. It is not a chapter of Walden but an independent essay that can be read alongside it, helping readers see how Thoreau expanded everyday natural observation into writing both informative and philosophical.

Can I understand it without a background in botany?

Yes. Although the essay discusses varieties, distribution, and flavors of wild apples, it is not a strict botanical treatise; its focus is observation and feeling. Even readers unfamiliar with technical terms can follow Thoreau's narrative and appreciate the rural scenery; for specific variety names, infer from context rather than verifying each one.

What reading approach suits this edition?

This is a public-domain English ebook from Project Gutenberg, suited to reading in sections on screen or in print. It is not long: you can finish it in two or three sittings, or use it as close-reading material, reading a section or two at a time and making brief notes, which makes it easier to savor the details of the prose than reading it all at once.

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About the author

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 Author

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American writer and thinker known for his nature writing and his reflections on individual conscience. The collection here includes 15 of his works, among them the combined volume Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, Walking, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, several volumes of his journal, and Canoeing in the Wilderness. Public information is limited, but these works show that his writing drew on close observation of nature during his stay by a pond, his walking trips, and river journeys. His style is plain and precise, combining philosophical reflection with a critical edge. He stressed simple living, closeness to wilderness, and individual moral responsibility, and his influence on later environmental literature and ideas of peaceful resistance has been profound.