James Baquet

    Becky and her classmate Lily chat about March again in the common room of their dorm.

    Lily: Hey, Becky. Can you help me?

    Becky: Sure, if I can.

    Lily: We were talking about the word “march” again in class today, and my teacher said something about a “different drummer.”

    Becky: Oh, yeah. That was an allusion to Thoreau.

    Lily: A what? To whom?

    Becky: An allusion is when a speaker or writer refers to something that the listener or reader should already know.

    Lily: For example?

    Becky: If someone says, “An apple a day,” would you know the rest?

    Lily: Sure! It’s a proverb. It goes like this: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” So “An apple a day” is an allusion?

    Becky: A simple one, yes. But sometimes speakers or writers refer to films, works of literature, or even historical events.

    Lily: Oh, like “Waterloo” is an allusion to Napoleon’s defeat.

    Becky: That’s right. How about calling someone “Einstein?”

    Lily: That would allude to their intelligence.

    Becky: Uh-huh. And calling someone “puckish” alludes to a naughty character in a Shakespeare play.

    Lily: I see. Now, what did you say my teacher was alluding to?

    Becky: Not what, who. Henry David Thoreau was an American writer.

    Lily: So what did he write about drums?

    Becky: He said, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”

    Lily: What does that mean?

    Becky: It means if someone behaves differently from the people around him, maybe he’s being inspired by something different.

    Lily: So “to keep pace with his companions” means “to act like the people around him?”

    Becky: Right. And the “different drummer” means some other sort of inspiration or motivation.

    Lily: So why did my teacher bring this up in a discussion about the word “march?”

    Becky: Although Thoreau wrote the words I told you, we often paraphrase what he said —

    Lily: Paraphrase?

    Becky: Say it in other words.

    Lily: Okay.

    Becky: So we talk about “marching to a different drum” or “drummer.”

    Lily: I see.

    Becky: By the way, the quote is actually in a book called “Walden,” and Thoreau continues the thought. Would you like to hear the rest?

    Lily: Sure!

    Becky: He said, “Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

    Lily: “Him” is the man who behaves differently?

    Becky: Right. And Thoreau approves, saying he should behave however the music he hears —

    Lily: His inspiration —

    Becky: Sounds to him, no matter how it sounds, or how far away it is.

    Lily: I think I get it. It gives people freedom to follow their hearts.

    Becky: Exactly!