In the midst of the Spring rush there arrives one book for which all else is pushed aside.... We have been educated to the belief that a man must be long dead before he can be enrolled with the great ones. Let us forget this cruel teaching.... This volume contains four poetic dramas all different in setting, and all so beautiful that we cannot choose one more perfect than another.... Too extravagant praise cannot be given Mr. Rice.—The San Francisco Call.
Four brief dramas, different from Paolo & Francesca, but excelling it—or any other of Mr. Phillips's work, it is safe to say—in a vivid presentment of a supreme moment in the lives of the characters.... They form excellent examples of the range of Mr. Rice's genius in this field.—The New York Times Review.
Mr. Rice is quite the most ambitious, and most distinguished of contemporary poetic dramatists in America.—The Boston Transcript (W. S. Braithwaite.)
The vigor and originality of Mr. Rice's work never outweigh that first qualification, beauty.... No American writer has so enriched the body of our poetic literature in the past few years.—The New Orleans Picayune.
Mr. Rice is beyond doubt the most distinguished poetic dramatist America has yet produced.—The Detroit Free Press.
That in Cale Young Rice a new American poet of great power and originality has arisen cannot be denied. He has somehow discovered the secret of the mystery, wonder and spirituality of human existence, which has been all but lost in our commercial civilization. May he succeed in awakening our people from sordid dreams of gain.—Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express.
No writer in England or America holds himself to higher ideals (than Mr. Rice) and everything he does bears the imprint of exquisite taste and the finest poetic instinct.—The Portland Oregonian.
In simplicity of art form and sheer mystery of romanticism these poetic dramas embody the new century artistry that is remaking current imaginative literature.—The Philadelphia North American.
Cale Young Rice is justly regarded as the leading master of the difficult form of poetic drama.—Portland (Me.) Press.
Mr. Rice has outlived the prophesy that he would one day rival Stephen Phillips in the poetic drama. As dexterous in the mechanism of his art, the young American is the Englishman's superior in that unforced quality which bespeaks true inspiration, and in a wider variety of manner and theme.—San Francisco Chronicle.