The phenomena of the different seasons and the descriptions of various sunsets and moonlit walks testify to the passage of the year 1851, documented in this volume of diary entries from January 1 to December 31. Thoreau's perspective on the landscape he traversed changed through his work as a land surveyor. Thus, the humming in the power lines, the sounds of his telegraph harp, evoke ancient and romantic associations that Thoreau casually connects with the technological modernity he embraced. Concrete political beliefs regarding slavery and furious tirades against pro-Southern Boston newspapers reveal Thoreau as a committed underground railroad operator for escaped slaves, while he simultaneously unfolds freedom songs that, in their poetry, remind one of Walt Whitman.