Henry David Thoreau to much of the literary world was one of the greatest writers of all time. His philosophy, experiments, theories and opinions are considered genius even by today's standards. Thoreau does, however, manage to stump even the best of the english and literature scholars with one phrase in his book Walden. "I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and I am still on their trail. Many are the travelers I have spoken concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the turtle dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves."
             For some, the horse, turtle dove and hound are symbolic of actual human beings. His friend, father, girlfriend just to name a few. They believe that Thoreau is making reference to people who, at one time or another, were close to him and he cared for. These figures either dies, moved away, rejected him, or lost touch some how. In some way, he had lost people he held with a certain emotion. On the flip side, many others believe that he was only using the animals as a metaphor to show that everyone has lost something in there lives. To every man, have his own definition and relation to what the hound, horse and dove stand for.
             I believe the latter in that Thoreau meant for us the readers to draw from the passage their own meaning. I stand by this simply because he mentions that he lost these things and is "still on their trail", implying that they can be found again. So unless he is either suicidal, depressed, or hung up on past relationships, it would make more sense to assume that he wanted us to use our imagination.
             Barbara Johnson, in her book A World of Difference, wrote a chapter entitled A Hound, a Bay Horse, and a Turtle Dove, which addressed the troubling and mental stresses that this certain pass...