Kościuszko. Gardner Monica Mary
er
Kościuszko / A Biography
Daily News. – "Miss Gardner's able study… Lovers of the heroic in history will be grateful to Miss Gardner for her account of this noble enthusiast." (Rest of review, of more than a column, analysing the matter of the book.)
Scotsman. – "So little is known in this country about Polish literati that a book which tells the moving story of the greatest among the poets of Poland is sure of a welcome from student readers. The present interesting volume – while it is instructive in no small measure as to the scope and character of Mickiewicz's poetry and literary work – draws so lively a picture of the persecutions and sufferings and of the unconquered spirit of the poet that its human interest easily overbears mere questions of literature. … The work, at once discriminating and enthusiastic, will warmly interest all sympathetic students of Slavonic popular literature." (Rest of review analyses matter of the book.)
Westminster Gazette. – "Miss Gardner tells the story with excellent insight and sympathy. … The author's description of the four parts of this poem gives a vivid idea of its far-reaching scope, its passionate energy, and intensity of patriotism." (Rest of review, three-quarters of a column, analyses matter of book.)
Birmingham Daily Post. – "We are very glad to see that Miss Gardner has at last produced a well-documented and impassioned study of the life and achievements of Mickiewicz. … Miss Gardner has done a fine and useful piece of work." (Rest of review, a column, analysis of matter of book, and calling attention to the importance of work upon Poland.)
Manchester Guardian. – "Miss Gardner, a devoted and accomplished student of Polish literature, has performed a considerable service in making better known the life and work of the most famous of Polish poets. … His pathetic story is told in great detail and with deep sympathy by Miss Gardner. … Some of her prose renderings are of great beauty – often with the wild and wayward beauty which we associate with Chopin." (Rest of review, three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter of book.)
New Age. – "A real work of love, honest and thorough." (Rest of review, of about a column, analysis of matter of the book.)
Cambridge Review. – "Miss Gardner… gives us a remarkably true picture of the relations between the poet and his country. …Miss Gardner has realized fully what she attempted, and indeed few countrymen of the poet could perform the task better."
Bulletin Polonais. – "Une étude biographique et littéraire très substantielle, très bien documentée, conçue très methodiquement et écrite avec beaucoup de charme et de clarté. … C'est à notre connaissance le premier livre anglais qui traite avec tant d'ampleur et tant de conscience une question d'histoire littéraire polonaise. Nous espèrons que Mile. Gardner ne se bomera pas à ce brillant coup d'essai."
Academy. – "Miss Gardner has done a real service." (The rest of a very long and sympathetic review is an analysis of the matter of the book.)
Tablet. – "In these days, when the reader is embarrassed by the abundance of books that are not wanted… it is well to meet with a work at once so necessary and so well done. … When great poetry has waited so long for appreciation, and a story full of interest has been left untold, we might welcome any attempt to supply the deficiency. But in this case the work is so admirably done that it would be welcome, though we had other biographies or critical appreciations of the Polish poet. This remarkable work… Apart from the purely biographical interest, which is of a high order, there is much that throws new light on the tragic pages of modern Polish history. … It may be hoped that this book will do something to awaken a new interest in the history and literature of Poland." (Rest of review, about a column, analysis of matter.)
Standard. – "This is the first attempt which has been made in our language to capture the imagination by a critical study of the fine character and high achievements of Adam Mickiewicz. Miss Monica Gardner writes exceedingly well – with knowledge, with sympathy, and with vision. … The book… is a capable bit of work, and it certainly succeeds in giving the reader a realistic and impressive picture of a man who loved Poland with an undivided heart." (Rest of review, about three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
Athenæum. – "One would have been grateful for a moderate biography of Poland's national poet; Miss Gardner's work merits a more distinguished adjective, and therefore is doubly worthy of attention." (Rest of review analysis of matter.)
Glasgow Herald. – "The intensely tragic story is set forth by Miss Gardner with skill equal to her sympathy. … What an inspiration Mickiewicz was, and is, may be readily gathered from the translations given by Miss Gardner, magnificent even as prose. … The book is singularly interesting as the story of a man and a nation and as giving a vivid glimpse of a poetry almost unknown in Britain." (Rest of review, about three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
Yorkshire Post. – "This book of Miss Gardner's should appeal powerfully to English readers because its subject has the provocations of novelty; because the work is gracefully and sympathetically written, with discerning and intimate knowledge of fact and of character, and yet discriminating and just; and because it embodies once more the story, especially dear to our hearts, of the struggle of a patriotic race for freedom and national existence." (Rest of review, about three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
Evening Standard. – "Miss Monica Gardner's eloquent book is a little epic of sorrow and courage. The pic ture that it paints is pitiful and splendid. … The book must be read for itself. The author has a style that has caught fire from its subject, and a grace and restraint that make the book an appeal to all lovers of literature, as well as to every generous heart." (Rest of review, three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
Spectator. – "Her eloquent and touching book. … Miss Gardner gives us an excellent account, enriched by many spirited translations, of the principal works of these remarkable poets." (Rest of review, two columns and a half, a laudatory analysis of matter.)
T. P.'s Weekly. – "The admirable historical summary in Monica Gardner's Poland. … The author has written a book that must be read. … The position of Poland is one of the important questions to be settled by this war, and we cannot know too much of the soul of a country that, divided among spoilers, still retained national unity." (Rest of review, three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
Pall Mall Gazette. – "Her well-written and brilliant book. This book deals with more than the soul of a nation. It speaks for the spirit of a people. … Miss Gardner is steeped in Polish literature, and her account of these great poets is intensely interesting. … Her description of Poland during the last hundred years is full of pathos and power. There is no straining after effect; the facts are ineffaceable; and this brief story brings out into bold relief the sufferings, sorrows, sacrifices, struggle, and strength of the Polish race. … This book is an eloquent description of a great people." (Rest of review, three-quarters of a column, analysis of matter.)
World. – "At present the only kind of 'War Book' that seems to us really worth reading is that of which the conflict now going on is rather the occasion than the cause. Such, we may say, is Poland: a Study in National Idealism, by Monica M. Gardner. … Clearly Miss Gardner has not been hurried into producing this admirable volume by the mere war, but only gives out in season the enlightening result of what she long previously assimilated and made her own. This book really reveals Poland." (Rest of review analysis of matter.)
Outlook. – "In this little volume a faithful and fearless picture is given of her [Poland's] struggle for independence." (Rest of review, about a column, analysis of matter.)
Daily News. – "Miss Gardner's sensitive and accomplished little study. … Miss Gardner's extremely spirited renderings." (Rest of review, column and a half, analysis of matter.)
Manchester Guardian. – "For the first time in England we are able