The anthology begins with an introduction, where Osundare discusses his connection with the environment, particularly the forest, the rocks, and the rain, which he experienced growing up in his hometown, Ikere, a town in southwestern Nigeria.
[11][12] He contrasts the past and the present, using the metaphor of the sky carrying a boil of distress, the dust in simmering kitchens, bedrooms, and factories, and the unnatural desert.
[15] He also describes his encounter with the rocks of Olosunta, another aspect of physical nature, which he addresses as a wayfarer who has been long and far, and who is doing a homecoming of a kind, a journey back and forth into a receding past which still has a right to live.
[18][19] The book addresses the challenges faced by Nigerians due to environmental degradation, pollution, industrial exploitation, and the societal changes that accompany every stage of the country's neocolonial development.
Kemi Atanda Ilori, writing for The African Guardian, described the book as "an exuberant voyage of memories of a youth on earth pilgrimage, discovering anew – away from the encumbrances of his Western education – the soul of his own society".
[22] Adebayo Adefemi Oguntuase, writing for Research Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, analysed the book from an ecocritical perspective, and argued that The Eye of the Earth "is an exemplar of the literary works that scholars of Ecocriticism adjudge fit enough to address the problems of society in matters of the relationship of man to his environment and his efforts to continuously maintain it.
"[23] Godwin Jeff Doki, writing for African Research Review, examined the theme of nature in the book, and noted that the poet "has a passionate and committed concern for earth".