“The sense of England is the burning thing in these two dramas; the sense of England as only wartime can make it, which glows through all the magnificent monologue with which ‘The Cliffs’ open, or which brightens into most exquisite flame in ‘The Clouds.’”—Lascelles Abercrombie, in the Quarterly Review.
“Mr. Doughty occupies a position by himself. The vigorous impulse and imaginative strength of his genius have created their own medium. Work which owes its power to the bigness of its design and the sheer weight of imagination and intellect.
“This is an amazingly vivid picture of the fury and wreckage of war. In part of the poem Mr. Doughty approaches more nearly to the idyllic than in any other of his works. It is a great work, full of faith and thought and compelling sincerity, and rich poetic beauty.”—Spectator.
“Mr. Doughty is the prophet of Patriotism. Wandering in the Muses’ Garden, he has received the divine call to chant patriot hymns, and it is his mission to rouse his country to a sense of the wrath to come in the guise of ‘air-flying Eastlanders.’ ‘The Clouds,’ is a passionate plea for the nation. His verse is astoundingly vivid and vehement, every now and then breaking into a startling beauty.”—English Review.
“Mr. Doughty’s ideas and his outlook might be those of Nelson’s captains could they be called back to life. He thrills our imagination. His historical sense is so vital and far-reaching, his patriotic imagination so deeply rooted in the soil of our forbears’ achievements.... A poem that, we venture to think, will become a classic. ‘The Clouds,’ as an achievement, possesses a creative actuality, a breadth of vision, an intensity of imaginative life. The effect of the poem is cumulative, and no quotation can convey any idea of the atmosphere of the whole varied picture.”—The Nation.
JOHN MORSE
An Englishman in the Russian Ranks: Ten Months’ Fighting in Poland. By John Morse. 4th printing. Crown 8vo, 6s.
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