SOURCE: Review of The Heather Field and Maeve, by Edward Martyn. The Bookman, 15, no. 90 (March 1899): 183.

In the following excerpted review of The Heather Field and Maeve, the critic praises Martyn's subjects while faulting his presentation.

A recent controversy has given a prominence to these plays [The Heather Field and Maeve] with which their own merits or demerits have nothing to do. The controversy took its rise from the Introduction Mr. George Moore unfortunately wrote for the volume, an Introduction which only dealt casually with Mr. Martyn's work, and which otherwise is a monument of preposterous criticism and bad taste.

The two plays did not need any sensational aid to win the attention that is their due. They are notable, but not for their literary quality. They are genuinely poetical, and that is always notable. They are not poetry. The poetry in them has been given utterance by a...