most prolific and universal poet, both lyric and epic, with whom no contemporary writer can be compared. His poetical sphere knows no earthly bounds, his spirit traverses the whole history of mankind. He soars back into chaos, tarries in Indian lands, hastens over the rose-gardens of Persia to the land of beloved antiquity, penetrates into the mysteries and shadows of Bohemia’s past. . . . His numerous collections of lyric poems, that went forth into the world under the most curious flags, contain the purest pearls of poetry. His fluency, his skill in the mastery of language, is extraordinary. Without hesitation he reproduces verses from a foreign language in his own. He bestowed upon Czech literature the greatest treasures of about ten nations, disclosed to his compatriots the sources of the finest poetry of Romance, Germanic and Slavonic literatures. Moreover, he reproduces foreign works in their own spirit, in the metres of the original."
This enormous activity could not fail to leave its stamp upon Czech literature. On the one hand Vrchlický's translations set the example to numerous other writers, with the result that the series entitled: "Sborník Světové Poesie," of which Vrchlický is editor, comprises the best poetry of all nations, translated by prominent authors. On all sides arises the desire to become acquainted with the productions of foreign nations. The firm of Otto, in Prague, publishes a World Library (each volume costs only twopence), a Russian Library,
