Thoreau Today

Henry David Thoreau in the Literature and Culture of the 21st Century

Questions and Findings by Chris Dodge

August 2006

Thanks to misattributions published on the Internet, Henry David Thoreau will someday have written and said everything.

In Walden, Thoreau asserted, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” This line has since been widely quoted and misquoted. What is the source of the common attribution, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go the grave with the song still in them.” This line appears nowhere in the writings of Thoreau that I can tell, but has a life of its own, spawning such offspring as:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

“The masses lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

“Most men and women lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

“Most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to their graves with the song still in their heart.”

Another anonymous person states it differently again, and attributes the words not to the Concordian but to another 19th century author who someday will have said everything:

“Whitman wrote ‘The great mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.’”

Consider the source. One of postings comes from a person who cites Thoreau's On Walden Pond, as if there were such a book.

A list of searches on Americanpoems.com (accessed on August 17, 2006) includes these search terms (each followed by the number of times that search term has been employed on that Web site):

Henery david 30
henery david thearou 156
henery david therou 138
Henery David Thoraeu 127
henery david thoreau 125
Hennry David Thoreau 73
henrey david thoreau 45
Henry David Thoreau 3
henry d thoreau 32
henry d thoreau most famous pome 64
Henry D. Thoreau 41
henry dadiv thoreau 13
henry davd thgoreau 5
henry daveid thoreau 25
henry david 112
Henry David Thoreau 38
Henry David Lerose 20
Henry David Thaoreau 16
henry david tharoe 21
henry david thearu 19
Henry David Theaurou 27
henry david theoru 66
Henry David Theraue 26
Henry David Thereau 237
Henry David Therou 317
henry david theroueus 3
henry david therua 13
Henry David Thoerau 90
Henry David Thoeru 27
henry david thor 21
henry david thoreaa 4
Henry David ThoreaCouplet 11
henry david thoreasu 19
Henry David Thoreau 414
Henry David Thoreau "castle in the air" 1
Henry David Thoreau - Inspiration 33
henry david thoreau called fri 26
Henry David Thoreau different drum 46
Henry David Thoreau Friendship 59
Henry David Thoreau nature 38
henry david thoreau poems 39
henry david thoreau's success poem 35
Henry David Thoreau* Walden 10
Henry David Thoreau+go into the night 22
Henry David Thoreau, Walking 27
Henry David Thoreau-Fishing In The Sky 34
henry david thoreaua 20
henry david thoreaugh 75
henry david thoreaus mentor and friends 3
henry david thoreaux 5
HENRY DAVID THOREEAU 7
henry david thoreo 32
Henry David Thoreu 3
henry david thoreu woods 50
Henry David Thoreua 30
henry david thoro 2
Henry David Thoroeau 28
Henry David Thorou 45
Henry David Thorough 56
Henry David Thoruea 48
Henry David Thorueau 33
Henry David Thoureau 80
Henry david thourough 31
henry david threau 115
henry david thro 35
henry david throeau 98
henry david throreau 76
henry david throuea 39
henry david through 32
Henry David Throw 31
Henry Davidf 35
henry davis thoreau 27
Henry daviv thoreau 19
Henry Davod thoreau 40
henry davud thoreau 8
henry deud crow 41
henry deud crowe 33
Henry Dvid Thoreau 34
Thorean 3
Thorean poems 3
Thoreas 45
thoreau 539
thoreau "differnt drum" 1
thoreau "suck the marrow" 2
Thoreau "Walking" 1
Thoreau and Emerson 19
Thoreau and Quiet Desperation 14
thoreau beats to a different drummer 3
Thoreau cerrtainty 14
thoreau confidently 18
thoreau drummer 35
thoreau fences 19
Thoreau Funeral Poem 3
thoreau march to tof a different drummer 4
thoreau marrow 22
thoreau mrow 2
Thoreau on water 3
thoreau poem 2
Thoreau Poems 38
thoreau poetry 10
Thoreau quotes 17
Thoreau retirement poetry 21
thoreau river 12
thoreau sea 4
thoreau suck the marrow 3
thoreau sucking 5
thoreau the bell tolls 11
Thoreau writings 13
thoreau%27s 8
Thoreau%2Ccastles 4
thoreau's 17
Thoreau's F;ute 1
Thoreau's Flute 2
thoreau's Low in the Eastern Sky 1
Thoreau's works 4
Thoreau, 12
Thoreau, castles 2
Thoreau, Desperate Haste 1
thoreau, graveyard 3
thoreau, henry 10
Thoreau, Henry D%2e 4
Thoreau, Henry D. 18
Thoreau, Henry David 14
Thoreau, John Brown 14
Thoreau, suck 14
thoreau, walden 15
Thoreau,castles 17
thoreau/different drummer 1
thoreau/go confidently in the direction 1
thoreau/success 1
thoreaux 14
thoreaw 4
thoreou 4
thoreu 96
Thoreua 1
Thoreugh 2
Thoreuo 46
thoreux 3

Notice how the misspellings outnumber the correct spellings. If popularity contests rule the day (as is the case to some degree with google.com searches), error will rule.

Stay tuned for bibliographic postings and new ways of thinking about Thoreau, including: