When Brother to Dragons came out ten years ago, its reviewers were inclined to show deep admiration. “An event, a great one,” was Randall Jarrell's opinion, as he sought to substantiate his judgment that “this is Robert Penn Warren's best book.” Another of Warren's fellow poets, Delmore Schwartz, likewise evinced high enthusiasm, calling Brother to Dragons “a work which is most remarkable as a sustained whole,” a work having “perfect proportion throughout.” Both these reviewers, furthermore, placed Warren in some very distinguished company on the basis of this work, Jarrell by finding echoes of Milton, Shakespeare, and Eliot, and Schwartz by observing “Warren's resemblance to Melville.”