Question

How does thoreau respond when people ask if he is lonely living alone in the woods

Answer 1

In "Walden; or Life in the Woods" Henry David Thoreau tells us about what is like to live a simple life in the woods. His nearest neighbor is a mile away and there is no house is visible from where he lives. He lives far away from society but feels no melancholy "There can be  no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and  has his senses still." He doesn't feel lonely or oppressed by solitude, moreover, he feels Nature's friendship and support. When he is asked if he is lonely he is tempted to reply that the whole earth is a point in space, and in the Milky Way. What we really need, is not to be near many men but to live close to the source of our lives. “How vast and profound  is the influence of the subtile powers of Heaven  and of Earth!”