New Hampshire · Chapter
New Hampshire explained
The narrator reflects on encounters with people from other states who boast or complain about their regions, contrasting their commercial attitudes with New Hampshire's lack of interest in selling anything.
What happens
The narrator reflects on encounters with people from other states who boast or complain about their regions, contrasting their commercial attitudes with New Hampshire's lack of interest in selling anything. He describes an old friend who returned from California ashamed of having sold 'old rags,' and praises New Hampshire for having just one specimen of everything, not for sale. The poem explores themes of commerce, authenticity, regional identity, and the tension between nature and human ambition.
Themes in this chapter
Commerce vs. Authenticity
The poem contrasts the commercial boasting of outsiders with New Hampshire's pride in having nothing to sell, and criticizes the shame of trade through the old friend's story.
Regional Identity
New Hampshire is portrayed as a state defined by its lack of commercialism, its mountains, and its unique characters, standing apart from other states like California and Arkansas.
Nature and Transience
The narrator's desire to elevate the mountains and the description of unsprayed apples and unpruned grapes reflect a tension between natural wildness and human intervention.
Characters to notice
- Old Friend Returns from California
The narrator encounters an old boyhood friend who built a grand house in the woods after returning from selling 'old rags' in San Francisco, ashamed of his commercial dealings.
Key passages
“The having anything to sell is what Is the disgrace in man or state or nation.”
Selling things is considered shameful for individuals, states, or countries.
Expresses the central theme of commerce versus authenticity.
“Just specimens is all New Hampshire has, One each of everything as in a show-case Which naturally she doesn't care to sell.”
New Hampshire only has one of each thing, like a display case, and has no interest in selling them.
Highlights the state's unique non-commercial identity.
“The only person really soiled with trade I ever stumbled on in old New Hampshire Was someone who had just come back ashamed From selling things in California.”
The only person I met in New Hampshire who was tainted by commerce was someone who returned ashamed after selling goods in California.
Illustrates the contrast between New Hampshire's purity and California's commercialism.