Chapter 17
Following Your Own Drummer
Conclusion To the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery. Thank Heaven, here is not all the world. The buck-eye does not grow in New England, and the mocking-bird is rarely heard here. The wild-goose is more of a cosmopolite than we; he breaks his fast in Canada, takes a luncheon in the Ohio, and plumes himself for the night in a southern bayou. Even the bison, to some extent, keeps pace with the seasons, cropping the pastures of the Colorado only till a greener and sweeter grass awaits him by the Yellowstone. Yet we think…
Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.
Master this chapter. Complete your experience
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Context: Thoreau is explaining why it's okay to live differently than others expect
This is one of literature's most famous defenses of individualism. Thoreau argues that what looks like failure to conform might actually be someone following their authentic path. The musical metaphor suggests that different life rhythms are equally valid.
In Today's Words:
If you move toward what you genuinely care about with consistent, deliberate effort rather than waiting for permission or certainty, the circumstances around you tend to reorganize in ways that help rather than hinder. This is not magic; it is what committed direction looks like from the inside.
"Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice."
Context: Opening the Conclusion by asserting the immensity of the interior life available to every person
Thoreau measures the inner life against the greatest external power of his era and finds it larger. The Czar’s realm is vast; the interior realm is vaster. The ice metaphor strips the empire down to a geological accident, temporary, built on frozen water that will eventually melt.
In Today's Words:
The most powerful empire in the world is smaller than the interior life of a single person who has learned to live deliberately. Thoreau’s comparison is not rhetoric; it is measurement. The Czar’s territory is fixed; your inner territory expands with the attention you give it. Most people never survey their own realm at all.
"The sun is but a morning star."
Context: The final line of the book, suggesting infinite possibilities ahead
This poetic ending suggests that human consciousness and potential are just beginning to dawn. What we think of as the full light of civilization is actually just the start of what's possible.
In Today's Words:
The sun I am describing is not the one in the sky but the one that rises when you stop performing and start seeing. It is always morning somewhere in your actual experience, which is an inexhaustible resource that most people draw on only rarely.
"I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
Context: The central conclusion Thoreau draws from his two years at Walden Pond
The semicolon is structural: the experiment is stated, then the lesson. The lesson is not a guarantee of outcome but a direction of travel. Advance confidently, endeavor, and something unexpectedly good follows — not what you planned but something better.
In Today's Words:
The promise is precise: not that you will get what you aimed for, but that you will get something better than you would have gotten by staying put and playing it safe. The condition is advancing confidently, meaning not hedging. The confidence itself changes the trajectory. Thoreau tested this for two years and reported back.
Thematic Threads
Authentic Identity
In This Chapter
Thoreau advocates marching to your own drummer and advancing confidently toward your dreams regardless of social expectations
Development
Evolution from earlier chapters about simple living - now focused on psychological and spiritual authenticity
In Your Life:
You might recognize this when you feel successful on paper but empty inside, or when you hide interests that don't fit your image.
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Thoreau criticizes the desperate rush to succeed and conform, advocating patience with natural development instead
Development
Builds on previous critiques of materialism to address deeper conformity pressures
In Your Life:
You see this when you choose jobs, relationships, or life paths based on what looks good rather than what feels right.
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
The parable of the artist perfecting a single staff shows how true work transcends ordinary time and social timelines
Development
Culmination of the book's message about patient self-development over quick external gains
In Your Life:
This applies when you feel pressure to rush your learning or development to match others' pace.
Class
In This Chapter
Thoreau argues for embracing humble circumstances while pursuing authentic dreams, rejecting class-based definitions of success
Development
Final statement on class themes - success isn't about climbing ladders but about authentic expression
In Your Life:
You experience this when you feel ashamed of your background or current circumstances instead of seeing them as your starting point.
Human Potential
In This Chapter
The famous ending 'the sun is but a morning star' suggests infinite possibilities for human consciousness and growth
Development
New theme introduced as hopeful conclusion to the experiment
In Your Life:
This emerges when you feel limited by current circumstances and need reminder that growth and change remain possible.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
This is not a test. Five prompts guide you through the chapter, from how it opens to how it closes, so you notice context and rhythm rather than facts to memorize. Sit with each question in your own words. When you see "One way to read it," treat it as a starting point, not the only answer.
- 1
Thoreau says he left the woods for 'as good a reason as I went there', that he had several more lives to live. What does this explanation reveal about how he thought an experiment should end, and what it means for a life to be deliberately designed?
analysis • surfaceOne way to read it
It reveals that his Walden period was never meant to be permanent, it was an experiment with a built-in end, concluded when it had yielded what it could. Living deliberately means knowing why you are in a particular phase, which requires also knowing what would mean it is time to leave.
- 2
Thoreau warns against becoming comfortable simply because you have found one way of living that works. What is the danger he identifies in excessive consistency, and what does he propose as the alternative?
analysis • mediumOne way to read it
The danger is treating a successful experiment as a permanent solution, which turns a living choice into a rut. He proposes treating any arrangement as provisional, useful now, but reviewed regularly for whether it still serves the purpose it was designed for.
- 3
Thoreau argues that 'if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.' What does he mean by 'unexpected in common hours,' and what would confident advance actually require from you?
application • mediumOne way to read it
He means that commitment to a direction aligns circumstances in ways that seem improbable to those who have never tried it, not through magic but because committed action opens doors that cautious hedging keeps closed. Confident advance requires tolerating uncertainty about how it will work before you can see that it does.
- 4
Thoreau's closing image is of a man who hears a different drummer and keeps pace with that music rather than his companions'. Think of one area of your own life where you are keeping time with someone else's drummer. What would it look like to march at your own pace?
application • deepOne way to read it
It would look initially slower or stranger than the surrounding pace, fewer visible milestones, less legible progress, more time spent in preparation or reflection than others seem to need. The external cost tends to be social comprehension; the internal gain tends to be a sense of actually moving rather than being moved.
- 5
Thoreau ends Walden with the image of a man who dug and dug until he found a hard vein worth mining. Looking at your own life as he might look at a woodlot, with an eye for what is worth digging toward, what is the thing you keep circling without committing to?
reflection • deepOne way to read it
Most people know what they are circling because it appears in the same places, in what they envy in others, in what they dismiss as impractical about themselves, in what they do when no one is assigning them tasks. The circling is a form of reconnaissance; at some point the reconnaissance has to end and the digging begin.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Different Drummer
Think of three areas where you feel pressure to 'keep pace' with others - career, lifestyle, relationships, parenting, etc. For each area, identify what music everyone else seems to be marching to, then honestly assess what different rhythm you might naturally hear. Write down one small way you could honor your authentic direction in each area without completely disrupting your life.
Consider:
- •Your 'different music' might be a slower pace, different priorities, or alternative definitions of success
- •Small authentic steps often feel more sustainable than dramatic life overhauls
- •Consider what you naturally gravitate toward when no one is watching or judging
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you ignored your instincts to fit in with others. What happened? What would you do differently now, knowing that your different rhythm might be valuable information rather than a character flaw?
