A further thought

A virtual neighbor expressed interest in my thoughts on Thoreau in Concord Jail . . . so:

What I thought (and I understand that Thoreau was of a somewhat irascible character, so I realize that I engage in some emotional poetic license) was, here is a chap imprisoned out of principle, so he is there because he has reason, in which he is firm.  In a sense, a man comfortable in his own skin, so that although his body is confined, his soul is free, and he declines to regard the cell as a "punishment," and this spiritual liberty is indeed a victory over his captors.

I conceived of my piece as an exhalation from that plane of the unfettered spirit.