Birds, the first poem of this collection is based on the thought that the birds are older than man and that in the days of his infancy they built their nests in the self-same way and with the same perfection they do today. The other poems are: Processes of thought, Airship over suburb, Harlequin, Winter nightfall, Two songs, and A far place.
“‘The birds’ is an interesting poem full of felicitous things. But it seems somehow to lack intensity. The three poems called ‘Processes of thought’ are naturally more personal, more intimately felt; for they are a record of introspection. In these we seem to be getting nearer our ideal of what the lyric inspired by science or philosophy should be like.” A. L. H.
+ − Ath p783 Ag 22 ’19 1000w
“His nature minutæ, his tenderness, his color are Wordsworthian, with a drama, a music, a diamond-cut-diamond quality, as well as a quality of the noblest oratory, that the old bard never knew.”
+ Bookm 52:367 D ’20 280w
“The poem after which the collection takes its name has a common idea but one which Mr Squire expresses with uncommon vigor and suggestion. The advantage of Mr Squire over the average American poet of similar gifts is his ability to express sentiment without sentimentalizing the mood.” W: S. Braithwaite
+ − Boston Transcript p9 D 1 ’20 1500w
“The difficulty with his poetry, for there is a difficulty—lies in the unfortunate fact, that despite the obvious care he lavishes upon it, it is too lax, too impersonal. Like everyone else who has something new to say, Mr Squire has discovered that a new idea depends on a new form of utterance being found to fit it. It is only a pity that he has so few new ideas, and that he is content instead with writing poems in which neither the idea—nor the utterance—is of the slightest importance.” J: G. Fletcher
− + Freeman 2:284 D 1 ’20 900w