University of Virginia Library

"There is a rugged Saxon strength and a vigorous originality in the poetry of John Neihardt, that place him in the very front ranks of American poets. The verse of Man-Song seems to have been hammered out of iron, rather than chiseled or molded from any softer material." -The Literary Digest

"The entire work throbs with life as an opal with color, and to read it is like playing with fire—or a naked heart."Chicago Record Herals

"No weakling could so chant of man in his relation to man, to woman, to Nature, to God. His melodies pour forth with the irresistible force and stern music of a mountain torrent. Neihardt has blazed his own trail with the divine fire." Balitimore Sun

"One thing at least is established beyond the likelihood of controversy—the author's right to be ranked among the foremost poets of the younger generation.—Verbal magic and pictorial suggestiveness that are characteristic of great lyrical work." Brooklyn Eagle

"John G. Neihardt is a poet unqualified, unless it be by the adjective, great." Sanfrancisco Call

"Among the few American poets of today, there is none more gifted with the seer's art than John G. Neihardt." Orange (N. J.) Chronicle

"The rare hand for devising arresting epithets which distinguiches Stephen Philips at his best is Mr. Neihardt's too; and now and then his verses roll out as sonorously as Marlowe's mighty line.—In writing blank verse, that noble English measure, he is a craftsman of unquestioned skill." -H. L. Menken in Smart Set

"The most striking thing about "Man-Song" is its amazing growth in various directions (as compared with 'A Bundle of Myrrh') but chiefly in lyrical power and artistic finish. There are a half dozen lyrics in this collection that are perfect verbal magic—they are irrestistible. But this is not all; beneath the wonderful singing quality are form, compression, reserve force, meaning; the spontaneity now is that apparent artlessness which is the triumph of the lyrical art." Albany Argus

"There is an awe-inspiring element in this work." Van Norden's Magazine

"There is in this volume a striking note of originality and power; the strong firm voice of a poetic personality.—Neihardt has the poet's power to concentrate whole pages of prose in one flashlight sentence." Duluth Herald

"His imaginative power, his acuteness in simile and his authentic passion, stir one as no mediocre writer can." Boston Advertiser

"Here is real poetry, virile and vital to a degree, a veritible man-cry.—Mr. Neihardt's strength goes hand in hand with beauty, the beauty of stormy sunsets and thunderous seas and of wonderful women in old forgotten cities. One puts down his book thrilled and exhilerated." Theodosia Garrison in Boston Herald

"Mr. Neihardt's work is wholesomely beautiful, often with a robustious exuberance, now and then striking a stronger note of tenderness. By escaping the fallacy that it is American to write about Indians and modern to write about railroads, he has made poems modern and American in the only true sense upon themes either ancient or timeless." The Bookman

"It is Walt Whitman observing every rule of rhetoric, rhyme and rhythm, with many passages of lyric sweetness of which Whitman knew nothing. There are beautiful thought-pictures, dreams that seem realities, visions such as the old prophets had." Nebraska State Journal

"The lyric intensity of a naive and passionate human voice." New York Times

"...At the age of thirty, four years after the issuance of 'Bundle of Myrrh,' and two years after 'Man-Song,' Neihardt seems to be firmly established among the living poets...He has written some of the finest stanzas that have blessed a prosaic age...His work should take its place with the best poertry of his time."Tacoma (Wash.) Ledger