The earth itself has slept,as it were its first,not its last sleep,save when some street sign or woodhouse doo
The earth itself has slept,as it were its first,not its last sleep,save when some street sign or woodhouse door has faintly creaked upon its hinge,cheering forlorn nature at her midnight work_the only sound awake twixt Venus and Mars _advertising us of a remote inward warmth,a divine cheer and fellowship ,wheregods are met together,but where it is very bleak for men to stand. I don't understand the above sentence, you can help me???

Question

The earth itself has slept,as it were its first,not its last sleep,save when some street sign or woodhouse doo
The earth itself has slept,as it were its first,not its last sleep,save when some street sign or woodhouse door has faintly creaked upon its hinge,cheering forlorn nature at her midnight work_the only sound awake twixt Venus and Mars _advertising us of a remote inward warmth,a divine cheer and fellowship ,wheregods are met together,but where it is very bleak for men to stand.                I don't understand the above sentence, you can help me???

Answer

Wow, that's a really really difficult sentence.
save = except
twixt = between
advertising us of = making us notice
gods are met together = gods meet (together)
where it is very bleak for men to stand = where humans would be very uncomfortable
The sentence is like a picture of a winter night. The earth is sleeping calmly, and the only thing that disturbs the silence is a hinge creaking softly. Thoreau (the author) imagines that the creaking is cheering on Nature. The creaking tells us that there is still life and warmth in the earth, but it is deep inside, in a place where only gods can go.

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