Charles Recht

“ It is not in drama or in prose that the charm of Vrchlicky can be found. He is distinctly a poet. His favorite creations are traveling comedians, circus-riders, gypsies. A man of the world, a thorough cosmopolite, he, nevertheless, was a pagan at heart; a man who for the poetry of an overturned idol, forgotten urn would sell all the material progress of the scientific world. ”

“ No other Bohemian writer received such recognition as Vrchlicky. Clubs were formed with his name; foreign critics as, for instance, Alfred Jensen, the Swede, came to Bohemia to write his biography; his works were translated into German, Polish, Russian, Servian, French and Hungarian, in short, like Ibsen, he lived to see his fame.
His value to Czechs and Czech literature is greater because of his cosmopolitanism; his ability to transfuse the spirit and the essence of foreign lore into his native tongue, than because of his inherent genius as a national poet. ”

“ Vrchlicky’s prosody is not extensive, but it differs from his poetry. He himself intended it to differ.
‘In my lyrical works I meant to express myself, my own soul, in my prose I speak as “The man of Nineteenth Century” observing the evolution of the people and trying to interpret its efforts. And so it is that my prose and my poetry are so different, my filisofy is “dualistic”; through my entire activity—for my own self I am a pessimist, for humanity an optimist.’ ”