“It is evident that what he lacks mostly is discipline and that austerity and economy of language which go with it. The fault looks straight out of the verse, and it is equally noticeable in his essay, which rambles over the whole universe of thought, touching on many things of which Mr. Davidson speaks with no authority and yet containing many interesting and suggestive things. Here we have extravagance both of thought and expression. It is the outpouring of an uncurbed, undisciplined, and vain mind.”
| − + | Acad. 71: 77. Jl. 28, ’06. 2000w. |
“This volume ought to win for Mr. Davidson the wider audience that he deserves. But his anarchic violence and metaphysical eccentricity are still rocks of offence, and he is not the sort of man who is easily taught or tamed.”
| + − | Ath. 1966, 2: 151. Ag. 11. 1990w. |
“In the closing passage of this ‘Note,’ Mr. Davidson, after a tribute to Poe, enlarges upon America in general, and makes it evident that he has been ‘seeing things.’” Wm. M. Payne.
| − | Dial. 42: 254. Ap. 16, ’07. 240w. |
“His essay is a most stimulating and interesting piece of work. With all its eccentricities, it does the most useful thing criticism can do: it increases our sense of the greatness of poetry.”
| + − | Lond. Times. 5: 281. Ag. 17, ’06. 1550w. | |
| + − | Nation. 84: 200. F. 28, ’07. 180w. | |
| + | N. Y. Times. 12: 172. Mr. 23, ’07. 640w. |
“In his prose, however, as in his verse, Mr. Davidson betrays a touch of rodomontade, a want of balance, and the vice of self-consciousness. He disappoints by a certain want of grip. His hands seem ever to be sliding over a hard surface. This criticism, none the less, must not be taken as disparagement. If not the poet of the future, he is a forerunner—one of the minor prophets.”