In
, Thoreau alludes to classical sources, the Bible, and great English
authors. It would be as common among the educated audiences that Thoreau was addressing to know
Greek literature, the Bible, and Shakespeare as it is today to understand such as allusions as
"we're not in Kansas anymore."
An example of Biblicalin
Walden is "it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles."
This is a slightly altered reference to Jesus's statement in three of the Gospels that it ruins
both the wine and wineskin to try to reuse an old wineskin. This is ain which Jesus tries to
explain why he has abandoned old rituals, such as fasting. In Thoreau's case, he is saying
people should literally wear their old clothes until they feel so inwardly changed that it would
seem strange to keep the old clothes on. Like Jesus, he means that transformation should be
inward, not a matter of outward ritual.
An example of an allusion to
Shakespeare is "the winter of man's discontent." This is a...
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