Conscience: by Henry David Thoreau.

Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian and a leading transcendentalist. Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

Poem:  

Conscience is instinct bred in the house,
Feeling and Thinking propagate the sin
By an unnatural breeding in and in.
I say, Turn it out doors,
Into the moors.
I love a life whose plot is simple,
And does not thicken with every pimple,
A soul so sound no sickly conscience binds it,
That makes the universe no worse than 't finds it.
I love an earnest soul,
Whose mighty joy and sorrow
Are not drowned in a bowl,
And brought to life to-morrow;
That lives one tragedy,
And not seventy;
A conscience worth keeping;
Laughing not weeping;
A conscience wise and steady,
And forever ready;
Not changing with events,
Dealing in compliments;
A conscience exercised about
Large things, where one may doubt.
I love a soul not all of wood,
Predestinated to be good,
But true to the backbone
Unto itself alone,
And false to none;
Born to its own affairs,
Its own joys and own cares;
By whom the work which God begun
Is finished, and not undone;
Taken up where he left off,
Whether to worship or to scoff;
If not good, why then evil,
If not good god, good devil.
Goodness! you hypocrite, come out of that,
Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.
I have no patience towards
Such conscientious cowards.
Give me simple laboring folk,
Who love their work,
Whose virtue is song
To cheer God along. 

Analysis of the poem: 

        In this poem conscience stand for Inner sense and Indirectly also asks the question; 

                          “Do I have own conscience?” 

    

             The very first problem is society itself, because there are innumerable taboos in society and also confusion which suggests that life is not rhythmic. It is also said that conscience is based on fear not love. This poem is also talk about Individuality because in society what happens with every individual is that he/she does not sustain any individuality. There is no uniqueness among people. He directly aks question like,

                            “Where is your individuality?”  
      

       The poem is actually in the form of debate where the speaker speaks to himself. The meaningful lines of this poem are,

                         “I love a life whose plot is simple

                            And does not thicken which every pimple”.

      Here plot means the life itself which is not at all straight and simple rather smoother. And with this has interwoven othe stories as well he also challenges ‘the Bible’. According to which life has form and the speaker clarifies that life is harder than meth’s because there is no specific formula in itself. 

      What he meant here by pimple is problems which occur in life. It also means something unpleasant and unwanted. You like clear road where you dislike speed breakers, pits etc… Similarly pimple are also like speed breaker which do not let the life be simple and clear. The problems as pimple crop up in one’s life. The question he asks ealier is very rhetorical rather than thoroughly philosophical. In this poem he makes demands. Moreover he writes,

                               “I love an earnest soul;

                                Whose mighty joy and sorrow

                               Are not drowned in a bowl” 

        This line are clarifies the hidden meaning that is about honesty which is very difficult to define. Indirectly it symbolize the fact that conscience are very wide forms which can’t be defined in a shorter span like a bowl. This is very narrow and also says that man should not be narrow minded. We are happy because society is happy and we are unhappy because it is unhappy.    

       Thoreau likes the concept that Adam was faithful to eve because he is going to live with wife not God. He is talking about hypocrisy and says that we all pretend to be good but obviously we are not good in the underneath lines. 

                                “I love a soul not all of wood

                                 Predestinated to be good

                                 But true to the backbone”. 

          Our life is full of does and don’ts, right and wrong but what about the third form named right and wrong. Similarly there is one another example that is Black and white so here poet presents his dilemma. He also share his idea by saying that we all are human because we all have the same problem of inner sense of conscience and of ‘Where to go? and what to choose?” 

         Thoreau believes that life is beyond logic. Life is like a poem which can have multiple interpretations. First he capitalizes God in the line,

                        “By whom the work which God begun”  

Then he does not capitalize it in the another line

                             “If not good god, good devil”

And then again he capitalizes him in this line,

                                    “To cheer God along”

        So it shows that he does not favor in God rather satirizes him. And he blames God who made himself.