SOURCE: Eckstorm, Fannie. “Fannie Eckstorm on Thoreau's The Maine Woods.” In A Century of Early Ecocriticism, edited by David Mazel, pp. 163‐72. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001.

In the following excerpt, originally published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1908, Eckstorm assesses Henry David Thoreau's treatment of the Maine wilderness, noting his lack of adeptness as a woodsman but praising his poetic understanding of nature and his ability to reveal the value of natural objects.

It is more than half a century since Henry D. Thoreau made his last visit to Maine. And now the forest which he came to see has all but vanished, and in its place stands a new forest with new customs. No one should expect to find here precisely what Thoreau found; therefore, before all recollection of the old days has passed away, it is fitting that some one who knew their traditions should bear witness...