The Comedian
06-05-2009, 11:31 AM
Having read all of Thoreau's other works, I came to The Maine Woods to finish my work of reading his canon. I wish I had come to this book earlier. It easily offers, next to the peerless Walden, some of Thoreau's finest prose and observations of his world.
The Maine Woods is comprised of three chapters, "Katadin," "Chesuncook," and "The Allegash and the East Branch" each of which documents a different trip the Maine woods. (These trips, I should note, are not all terrestrial sauntering; two are canoe trips, primarily). Adding interest to the structure of the book is that each trip occurs over the same geographical area of the Maine woods and, in total, the book spans a time period of ten years -- the chapters/trips roughly evenly spaced out in this time. This structure allows the reader (and Thoreau himself) to observe that changes that have occurred in the area over a considerable amount of time.
Thematically the work deals with the complicated relationship of humanity and the landscape, the timber industry, hunting. . . . the effluvial nature of "wilderness" & co. Interestingly on each trip, Thoreau and his companion hire a different Indian guide, which allows him to comment on and observe the native cultures and individuals with his tender, honest, and naturalist eye that, for this reader, is still unmatched in environmental writing.
The prose is remarkable -- poignant, witty, simple, funny, beautiful.
There is the light-hearted wit: "Red flannel shirts should be worn in the woods if only for the fine contrast which this color makes with the evergreens and the water."
And there is magical writing like this: "If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable of auspices, I would go to it in foul weather, so as to be there when it cleared up; we are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which has just established itself in a tearful eye."
And, yes, there are Thoreau's countless list of trees, flowers, and scrubs with their Latin names and paragraphs of description given about their appearance, habitat, and value.
. . . . . . .
For me, the best books change our lives -- either in a small way or a big way. After I finished The Maine Woods , I spent the next two days identifying every tree and shrub around my house -- I took my oldest daughter along to help me distinguish between Red Maples (leaves 3-5 lobes, shallow notches between each lobe) and Silver Maples (leaves 5-7 lobes, deep narrow notches between each lobe). Together, we also found jack pines, red pines, white pines, alternate-leaf dogwoods, black spruce, red oak, viburnum, and others.
But more than helping me to better understand the woods around my house, The Maine Woods refreshed my attention to detail; it brought heightened value and mystery to the life around me that, for too long, I had passed as a stranger and wrongly called "friend" (for friends require understanding). I now take more time to understand the wilderness that I share with my family and I refresh my spirit there daily, if not hourly.
Overall rating of The Maine Woods: 10 chiogenes hispidula (creeping cherry) leaves out of a possible 10.
The Maine Woods is comprised of three chapters, "Katadin," "Chesuncook," and "The Allegash and the East Branch" each of which documents a different trip the Maine woods. (These trips, I should note, are not all terrestrial sauntering; two are canoe trips, primarily). Adding interest to the structure of the book is that each trip occurs over the same geographical area of the Maine woods and, in total, the book spans a time period of ten years -- the chapters/trips roughly evenly spaced out in this time. This structure allows the reader (and Thoreau himself) to observe that changes that have occurred in the area over a considerable amount of time.
Thematically the work deals with the complicated relationship of humanity and the landscape, the timber industry, hunting. . . . the effluvial nature of "wilderness" & co. Interestingly on each trip, Thoreau and his companion hire a different Indian guide, which allows him to comment on and observe the native cultures and individuals with his tender, honest, and naturalist eye that, for this reader, is still unmatched in environmental writing.
The prose is remarkable -- poignant, witty, simple, funny, beautiful.
There is the light-hearted wit: "Red flannel shirts should be worn in the woods if only for the fine contrast which this color makes with the evergreens and the water."
And there is magical writing like this: "If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable of auspices, I would go to it in foul weather, so as to be there when it cleared up; we are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which has just established itself in a tearful eye."
And, yes, there are Thoreau's countless list of trees, flowers, and scrubs with their Latin names and paragraphs of description given about their appearance, habitat, and value.
. . . . . . .
For me, the best books change our lives -- either in a small way or a big way. After I finished The Maine Woods , I spent the next two days identifying every tree and shrub around my house -- I took my oldest daughter along to help me distinguish between Red Maples (leaves 3-5 lobes, shallow notches between each lobe) and Silver Maples (leaves 5-7 lobes, deep narrow notches between each lobe). Together, we also found jack pines, red pines, white pines, alternate-leaf dogwoods, black spruce, red oak, viburnum, and others.
But more than helping me to better understand the woods around my house, The Maine Woods refreshed my attention to detail; it brought heightened value and mystery to the life around me that, for too long, I had passed as a stranger and wrongly called "friend" (for friends require understanding). I now take more time to understand the wilderness that I share with my family and I refresh my spirit there daily, if not hourly.
Overall rating of The Maine Woods: 10 chiogenes hispidula (creeping cherry) leaves out of a possible 10.