Embracing Solitude: Finding Peace and Freedom in Alone Time

1. Unit Five

2. Sections Section A Choose to Be Alone on Purpose Section B Roommate Conflicts

3. Section A Choose to Be Alone on Purpose

4. Table of Contents 1.Background Information 2.Warming-up Activities 3.Text Analysis 4.Vocabulary and Structure 5.Writing

5. Background Information Henry David Thoreau (1) Henry David Thoreau: U.S. thinker, essayist, and naturalist (1817 —1862). Born in Concord, Mass., Thoreau graduated from Harvard University and taught school for several years before deciding to become a poet of nature. Back in Concord, he came under the influence of R. W. Emerson and began to publish pieces in the Transcendentalist magazine The Dial.

6. Henry David Thoreau (2) In the years 1845 —1847, to demonstrate how satisfying a simple life could be, he lived in a hut beside Concord’s Walden Pond; essays recording his daily life were assembled for his masterpiece, Walden (1854). His A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) was the only other book he published in his lifetime. He reflected on a night he spent in jail protesting the Mexican-American War in the essay Civil Disobedience (1849), which would later influence such figures as M. Gandhi and M. L. King.

7. Henry David Thoreau (3) In later years his interest in Transcendentalism waned and he became a dedicated abolitionist. His many nature writings and records of his wanderings in Canada, Maine, and Cape Cod display the mind of a keen naturalist. After his death his collected writings were published in 20 volumes, and further writings have continued to appear in prints.

8. John Milton(1) John Milton: English poet (1608 —1674). Milton attended Cambridge University (1625 —1632), where he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English; these included L’Allegro and Il Penseroso, both published later in Poems (1645). During 1632—1638 he engaged in private study— writing the masque Comus (1637) and the extraordinary elegy Lycidas (1638)—and toured Italy.

9. John Milton(2) Concerned with the Puritan cause in England, he spent much of 1641—1660 pamphleteering for civil and religious liberty and serving in Oliver Cromwell's government. His best-known prose is in the pamphlets Areopagitica (1644), on freedom of the press, and Of Education (1644). He lost his sight in the year of 1651, and thereafter dictated his works. His disastrous first marriage ended with his wife’s death in 1652; two later marriages were more successful. After the Restoration he was arrested as a noted defender of the Commonwealth, but was soon released.

10. John Milton(3) In Paradise Lost (1667), his epic masterpiece on the Fall of Man written in blank verse, he uses his sublime “grand style” with superb power; his characterization of Satan is a supreme achievement. He further expressed his purified faith in God and the regenerative strength of the individual soul in Paradise Regained (1671), an epic in which Christ overcomes Satan the tempter, and Samson Agonistes (1671), a tragedy in which the Old Testament figure conquers self-pity and despair to become God’s champion.

11. John Milton(4) Considered second only to W. Shakespeare in the history of English-language poetry, Milton had an immense influence on later literature; though attacked early in the 20th century, he had regained his place in the Western canon by mid-century.

12. LEAVE MEALONE!! • We learn to get along with others and we learn the pleasures of social companionship. But there are always times when we get sick of one another. When we want nothing more than for everybody to just go away and “LEAVE ME ALONE!!” We are tired of other people telling us what to wear, what to eat, how to talk, how to think. We just want to be left alone. So we take some time apart. Some time for ourselves. Some time alone.

13. But are we really alone now ? (1) • Well, Physically we may be alone. But most often, when we take that time for ourselves, we turn on the TV or put a movie in the DVD player, or turn on the radio or a CD or read a book or magazine. That’s not really being alone…

14. But are we really alone now ? (2) • A real difference between this electronic or printed “company” and being with our family, or friends or the crowds at the mall, is that with the electronic company, if we don’t like what we’re hearing or seeing, we can change channels. Or put in a different CD. Or pick up a different book. Or hit the power button. Close the book and put it on the shelf.

15. When are we really lonely? (1) • There are episodes in our lives when we feel exceptionally lonely. Going away to college. Moving to a new town. When the kids start school. When they move out of the house. Divorce. A fight with a friend. A death of someone we’re close to. All of these produce a special kind of loneliness, an acute feeling of abandonment and isolation.

16. When are we really lonely? (2) • We can even feel very alone – very lonely – in the middle of a crowd. When we feel like nobody understands us, nobody notices us, nobody knows who we really are. Nobody cares.

17. What can we learn from loneliness? (1) • I met a friend recently who told me he had spent the whole summer alone, painting. I remarked that it must have been a wonderful experience. He said it had been very lonely. But as I attempted to express sympathy, he said, no – his best paintings had come out of that loneliness.

18. What can we learn from loneliness? (2) • Before Jesus began his ministry, he withdrew into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights (which was just a Hebrew way of saying “a really long time”). Before his betrayal and crucifixion, he once again withdrew into the garden of Gethsemane, and even his closest disciples, although they were present, were not really with him. He was alone.

19. What can we learn from loneliness? (3) • The Buddha withdrew from society, too, and he finally achieved enlightenment in perfect solitude, sitting alone under the Bodhi tree.

20. What can we learn from loneliness? (4) • The histories of the world’s religions are filled with the stories of solitary seekers – hermits, retreatants, those who take vows of silence. Jesus taught: go into your closet and pray in secret. Buddhists practice silent meditation.

21. What can we learn from loneliness? (5) • We are encouraged not to be fearful of being alone, of feeling separate, at times, from the world around us. In the teachings of the Buddha, we find the following: • v. 205: Having tasted the sweetness of inner solitude and calmness, he who lives by the Dharma is free from fear and suffering.

22. What can we learn from loneliness? (6) • v. 302: It is hard to leave the world for the life of a hermit; but just as hard to stay in the world and be a householder. To be with those who do not understand you is very hard. • v. 61: If the traveler cannot find a wise friend to go with him. Let him go on alone. It is better than having a fool for company. • v. 369: Empty your boat, seeker, and you will travel more swiftly.

23. What can we learn from loneliness? (7) • I think what Jesus and the Buddha were trying to show us is that there is an aspect of life that is not easily experienced amid the noise and commotion, the habits and responsibilities of our day-to-day life. The clamor and activity of life can keep us from knowing who we are, from seeing life as it is. So maybe being alone is not just about restoring our ego. Maybe it’s about transcending ego. Solitude can settle us, like the clarity that comes to a murky pond with stillness. We can see and feel more clearly.

24. What can we learn from loneliness? (8) • I think what Jesus and the Buddha were trying to show us is that there is an aspect of life that is not easily experienced amid the noise and commotion, the habits and responsibilities of our day-to-day life. The clamor and activity of life can keep us from knowing who we are, from seeing life as it is. So maybe being alone is not just about restoring our ego.

25. What can we learn from loneliness? (9) • Solitude can settle us, like the clarity that comes to a murky pond with stillness. We can see and feel more clearly.

26. What can we learn from loneliness? (10) • Solitude comes when we touch our loneliness, reach through our loneliness into a bigger world. We retreat not to dissociate ourselves from others nor from our crazy world, but to connect. To fully connect and know that we are One – together, completely. Not alone. To know, in solitude, our undeniable connection with friends, family, ancestors and all the world.

27. Warming-up Activities Comprehension of the Text 1. Why is loneliness called a national disease of the U.S.? 2. According to the passage, why do poets like the solitary condition? 3. What can be learned from Thoreau’s choice of the solitary way of life? 4. How will the temporary absence of friends and acquaintances affect a person?

28. Comprehension of the Text 5. Why is it important for a person living alone to talk to others? 6. Who may the person living in solitude talk to? 7. How is a solitary man advised to enjoy his life? 8. What can be inferred from the passage about the author’s attitudes towards ordinary people’s condition of living alone?

29. Referencefor Comprehension Questions(1) • All 22 million of people live alone, which suggests that it is an overwhelming phenomenon in the United States. • 2. Because they can find inspiration in solitude. • 3. The more capable the person is of thinking on his own, the less his need for staying with others.

30. Reference for Comprehension Questions (2) 4. It depends. If he lives with them, the friends’ temporary leaving will be received as a welcome change. However, if he lives alone, the temporary absence of friends will leave him nothing but the feeling of emptiness. 5. The need to talk is the most basic need of a solitary person. 6. He may call friends to tell them important things, or talk to himself, his pets, the television, or even to strangers in the supermarket.

31. Reference for Comprehension Questions (3) 7. He should stay rational, settle himself in a comfortable and pleasant way and wait for anything happy that may happen. 8. As ordinary people’s solitary condition of living differs from that of the great minds like the poets and philosophers, they should cherish the thought that “since we are here, we may as well stay and make the best of it”.

32. Text analysis Text main idea As a sort of US national disease, lots of people are living alone, some divorced, some widowed and some never yet committed. But to be alone on purpose is of American hero. Solitude is liked by poets and philosophers for inspiration, and improved by being voluntary. Although those living with others may enjoy temporary solitude, those living in solitude may suffer from the need to talk, thus behaving strangely and talking at length to themselves or to their pets. The best cure for this is to stay rational, settle down and find grace and pleasure in one’s own condition.

33. Text Structure Part II Part III Part IV Part I Para. 11-16: The author’s comments & advice on living alone Para. 1: The brief descrip-tion of being alone in USA Para. 2: Two different views on solitude Para. 3-10: why and how to choose to live alone.

34. Main idea for Part I Living alone is a common social phenomenon in USA.

35. Developing technique (1) Explanation (解释法) Para. 1 Here we are, all by ourselves, all 22 million of us by recent count, alone in our rooms, some of us liking it that way and some of us not. Some of us divorced, some widowed, some never yet committed. (Explanation is used to make more clear and accurate the first sentence in this part, with the second sentence providing the explanatory information.)

36. Main idea for Part II While many people think living in solitude may be a sort of national disease, others take it as a characteristic of an American hero.

37. Developing technique (2) Para 2. Loneliness may be a sort of national disease here, and it’s more embarrassing for us to admit than any other sin. (A sentence of concession)On the other hand, to be alone on purpose, having rejected company rather than been cast out by it, is one characteristic of an American hero. (A sentence of emphasis) Contrast (对比法)

38. Main idea for Part III Poets and philosophers are for inspiration in solitude, which is improved by being voluntary. Some artists go outdoors to be alone, with loved ones at home, which suggests that the more confident we are, the less we desire to keep company with others.

39. Developing technique (3) Exemplification (举例法) Point 1:Inspiration in solitude is a major commodity for poets and philosophers. Point 2:Solitude is improved by being voluntary. Point 3:The artists choose to go alone by themselves while their loved ones prepare comforts for them at home. Example 1: Dorothy Wordsworth Example 2: John Milton Example 3: Henry Thoreau

40. Main idea for Part IV Living with others, one enjoys the advantages of occasional solitude. But living alone, one is stricken with it. Without the need to talk fulfilled, one may even get into some embarrassing situations. Thus, the author advises people to stay rational, settle down and enjoy grace and pleasure at home.

41. Developing technique (4) Comparison & Contrast (比较法) Three paragraphs from 11 to 13 are skillfully organized by comparisons. Here, two groups of people are compared: people who live with others and those who live alone and they feel differently when they are alone. The author’s arguments are supported by details.

42. Developing technique (4) Comparison & Contrast (比较法) If you live with other people, their temporary absence can be refreshing. Supporting details:While the others are absent you can stretch out your souland use your freedom, coming and going as you please without apology, staying up late to read, soaking in the bath, eating a whole pint of ice cream at one sitting, moving at your own pace. (Para.11)

43. Developing technique (4) But it is different when you live alone: ___ __________________________________ ___________________________. (Para. 11) Supporting details: It is human that we need to talk to others. ______________________________ __________________________________________________________ (Para. 12) Supporting details: People who live alone will behave ridiculously: _________________________ ________________________________________________________________ (Para. 13) the temporary absence of your friends and acquaintances leaves a vacuum We can tell our friends important things or complain about losing jobs, falling on a slippery floor, … talking at length to themselves and their pets and the television, asking the cat and the parrot what to do, …

44. Vocabulary and Structure words & phrases patterns • cast out • seek out • set forth • stretch out • stay up • at one sitting • back up • seal up 1. consider sb., for example 2. no doubt about it 3. rather than 4. not for…, but because… 5. It is important to do sth. 6might / may as well do sth.

45. cast out: 抛弃/驱逐某人 words & phrases 活学活用 出了那桩丑闻后，他被公司开除了。 After the scandal, he was cast off of the company.

46. 2.seek out :找出/搜寻出······ 他在人群中找到了他的朋友。 活学活用 He sought out his friend in the crowd.

47. 3.set forth: 动身；阐述 1.早上4点15分开始进行了短时间的 飞行，半小时后他动身了。 2.作者在前言中阐述了写这本书的 原因。 活学活用 • After making a short test flight at 4:15 a.m, he set forth half an hour later. • The author set forth the reason for writing the book in the preface.

48. 4.stretch out: 放松; 伸出; 延长; 使满足需要 他们不想把会议延长。 2.饭菜够吃吗? 今晚我们多了5个客人吃饭。 活学活用 They don’t want to stretch the meeting out. 2. Will the food stretch out? Tonight we’ve got five extra guests for dinner.

49. 5.stay up : 熬夜做某事 即使熬一个通宵，我也要写一封措辞得当的推荐信。 活学活用 I’ll write a properly-worded letter of recommendation, even if I have to stay up all night for it.

50. 6.at one sitting : 一口气（地） 正如一口吃不成个胖子一样，成功不能一蹴而就。 活学活用 Just as no one grows fat at one sitting, no success can be attained with one single effort.