1. Compare Hudson's animism with the attitudes toward nature in Thomas Traherne's "Shadows in the Water" or Henry Vaughan's "The Retreat."

2. Hudson's responses to nature are complex and multifaceted. Compare his reactions to nature with the ones Wordsworth describes in "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey."

3. Compare Hudson's father and mother, and clarify their influences on his life.

4. Read selected passages from Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selbome that record White's observations of birds. How do his observations resemble Hudson's? In what ways do they differ?

5. Study a source that explains Wordsworth's concept of "spots of time," as it is recorded in his long autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Compare these experiences with several from Hudson's early childhood.

6. Hudson admits that he did very little reading that influenced him. Identify the few influential works he lists and give...