William Dean Howells 
Stops Of Various Quills 

‘Stops of Various Quills’ is a remarkable book, concerning which there will probably be considerable difference of opinion among readers of current verse, though there ought to be none, and will be none among those who are capable of looking beyond and below mere poetic technique into the thing which is poetry itself — the thought which is in the poet’s mind, the feeling which is in his heart, and which, whether he has captured it in his verse, or whether it has evaded him, is individual, vital, inevitable. Mr. Howells has given us here a remarkable book, as we have said, and one which we would select as an infallible touchstone of the poetic knowledge or ignorance of its readers. If they are enamored of perfect technique, it may not please them ; but if they know what poetry is, apart from its technique, they will be profoundly touched by it and will return to it again and again.