Reviews

On Her Life:

“When the best minds of the universe ponder that rare quality of creativity, they should consider he moving example of the late Knoxville poet Jane Merchant”—Knoxville Sentinel, 1971

“Jane Merchant was a great poet, and a great women of indomitable courage.”—Bert Vincent, Knoxville Sentinel, 1971

On the Petition to Make Jane Merchant Poet Laureate of Tennessee:

“We find ourselves in thorough sympathy . . . Jane Merchant writes with perception, grace and feeling on a wide range of subjects . . .The State has had no poet laureate since the days of the late John Trotwood Moore. It would be a fitting thing, and we think a deserved honor, for Knoxville’s Jane Merchant to be selected for this post of honor.”– Knoxville Sentinel, December 1954

“Jane Merchant would richly deserve the honor of being named Poet Laureate of Tennessee. Her books . . . will live long after many of those quoted widely today are entirely forgotten.”—Alfred Mynders, The Chattanooga Times, February 28, 1965

“The unofficial poet laureate of Tennessee”—the Nashville Tennessean, 1956

On Halfway Up the Sky:

“Miss Merchant . . . should have been given the Pulitzer Prize . . . Halfway Up The Sky is the product of a remarkable talent.”—The Chattanooga Times, 1957

“A luscious piece of work . . .gems from a pen that sparkles with good humor, profound common sense, and a splendid sense of the worthwhile in life.”—The Virginia Newsleader, 1957

“Her poetry suggests a wide and perceptive range of living. There is love, courage, and sympathy in both her serious and her lighter work.”—The Saturday Evening Post, 1957

“Hardly more than one book in 21 really deserves serious attention. It is the 21^st book I want to crown . . .a volume of poetry by Jane Merchant entitled Halfway Up the Sky . . . The author is a Tennessean and an invalid . . she has been totally deaf since 1943. Don’t think that I praise her work because of her handicaps; it can stand alone on its own merits . . . Her competence and flashes of insight would do credit to anyone . . . Her poems sing. If she sometimes seems to echo Emily Dickenson, be assures that she has made the divine Emily’s processes her won—and she has the same independence . . . I am going to proclaim from the rooftops of Richmond that this is genuine poetry . . .That so fine a book has been lying around since its publication in 1957 is deplorable, and I take my share of the blame. I just didn’t know about it”—Dr. Lewis Ball, Richmond Times Dispatch, April 9, 1961

On In Green Pastures:

“Such inspiration as this is rarely found in new poetry nowadays. In the new book . . . there is the same good humor, the same fine sentiment without sentimentality, which has won Jane Merchant a national audience.”—Alfred Mynders, The Chattanooga Times, 1959

On Blessed Are You:

“[Her poems] probe all the dimensions of human character. They comfort and encourage, but they also seek out those naggings sins that so irritate our souls and are so seldom subject to divine forgiveness.”—W.A.Wright, Jr., The Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 19, 1961.

“This Tennessee poet who knows the bleaker side of life and yet is able to rise about it and bring her readers with her, is well know for the durability of her inspirational verse.”—Edsel Ford, poet, 1961.

On Petals of Light:

“It has a beauty of its own that often suggests the genius of Emily Dickenson. She avoids the cliché and gives her epiphany with economy of effort and with discipline . . . her own verse is more eloquent than anything I could say . . . Every page of Petals of Light is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It is metaphysical poetry in the tradition of Edward Taylor and Emily Dickinson—with a heart and perception that are peculiarly Miss Merchant’s own. ”—Dr. Lewis Ball, Richmond Times Dispatch, December 19, 1965

On Daffodils Are Daffy:

“A light and varied collection . . . which can serve as a reassuring introduction to poetry for children.”—Publisher’s Weekly, 1967