Chapter 5- Solitude

Thoreau wrote chapter 5 about his experiences with nature, and to explain what nature was to him. His tone seems to go towards a mystical tone in the beginning, when he says "I go and come with a strange liberty in nature, " (Thoreau) which by using the word strange in lieu of something along the lines of "different", establishes a sort of enchanted tone. Another curious aspect of this quote and the quotes throuhout the chapter is that Thoreau seems to be talking inwardly and to himself, which is one of the tenets of transcendentalism.However, towards the end, Thoreau's words seem more airy and more philosophic toward nature. "For my panacea, instead of one of those quack vials of a mixture dipped from Acheron and the Dead Sea, which come out of those long shallow black-schooner looking wagons which we sometimes see made to carry bottles, let me have a draught of undiluted morning air." (Thoreau). Thoreau's diction here is important in establishing the tone for the chapter because by saying modern remedies are made from the dead sea and saying that he prefers undiluted fresh air, he paints a portrait of how nature is pure. By denying the "logical" remedy and embracing nature, this view declines the predominant vision in society.
Based on Thoreau's quotes about religion, I think that Thoreau's purpose was to show his contempt for the hypocrisies of his modern day, and to establish all of us as part of something bigger -nature. "There is commonly sufficient space about us. Our horizon is never quite at our elbows. " (Thoreau). By using the words "us and "our" , Thoreau establishes his vision for people and shows that his intended audience was the people in society. The title could be interpreted in different ways, but I percieved it as suggesting that everyone should live in a sort of solitude, like him, and that people should become one with nature and not just "visitors to his house".