One of the most striking phenomena of American literary his-
tory has been the gradual growth of Thoreau's reputation. From
one who in his own lifetime was dismissed generally as a minor
figure and an imitator of Emerson, he has risen to the rank of
one of our five or six greatest writers. The growth has been very
gradual and not without its setbacks, but it can easily be traced
through the comments of the critics over the years.

Thoreau had to suffer none of the tribulations of the literary
lion. Few admirers made pilgrimages to see him. He received only
an occasional request for an autograph or a photograph. Few ed-
itors asked him to write for them. His services as a lecturer were
not in great demand. Indeed, his greatest problem was getting his
work into print, getting his writing noticed.

Aside from a brief article printed anonymously in the Concord
newspaper, Thoreau first broke into print in the pages of the Dial,
but only at the strong behest of Emerson and over the protest of
the editor, Margaret Fuller. Commentators on the Dial rarely
bothered to single out his writings as exceptional. When the Dial
foundered, it was chiefly through the good offices of his friend
Horace Greeley that he succeeded in placing any further magazine
articles--and even then he found it difficult to collect any pay
for his work.

Ironically, the first recognition Thoreau won was in James Russell Lowell
, A Fable for Critics ( 1848), wherein Lowell chastised
"-----" for not letting "Neighbor Emerson's orchards alone"
because "----- has picked up all the windfalls before." It is almost

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