... scholars have found emerging in Thoreau's later work. And yet, this literal figure of empirical contact with the world, metaphor's earthy opposite, as it were, has received little attention from ecocritics interested in Thoreau's own opposition to metaphor. I suspect this is the case since metonymy remains a figure of ... alive with them, each uttering a faint chip from time to time. ... Those sparrows, too, are thoughts I have. They come and go; they flit by quickly on their migrations, uttering only a faint chip, I know not whither or why exactly. One will not rest upon its twig for me...

• Word Count: 9971
• Approx Pages: 40
• Grade Level: Undergraduate