“ In literature, and especially in poetry, the Czechs have shown a preference for French or Italian sources, and they have deliberately ignored the more immediate German models. Thus Jaroslav Vrchlický, who was born in 1853 and died in 1912, the founder of modern Czech poetry in the stricter sense of the word, derived his main inspiration from Victor Hugo and Dante. He introduced every variety of metre into Czech literature, and thus established a valuable tradition of formal exactitude. ”

“ Under the general title of "The Consciousness of the Ages", Machar has issued a series of volumes in which the leading figures and episodes of history are depicted in a poetical style whose energy and lack of obscurity harmonize with the directness of each recital. It is these qualities, together with the gift of commenting on topical events without lapsing into triviality, which have made Machar the most popular Czech writer of today. During the war Machar was imprisoned by the Austrian authorities, apparently on account of four poems which they considered dangerous to public order. ”

“ Moreover, his creative influence on the Czech language was of the utmost value even to those poets who had no great regard for his artistic tendencies.
The most prominent among the many talented Czech poets of today are J. S. Machar, Antonín Sova and Otakar Březina. J. S. Machar (b. 1864) is a poet (and prose-writer) of revolt. He has not altogether escaped the national bent for melancholy brooding and sentimental elegy, which indeed, form the chief contents of his early poems. ”