Geoffrey Hiller and Peter Groves, Samuel Daniel: Selected Poems and A Defense of Rhyme. Pegasus Press Asheville, NC, 1998.
"As I read this fine book I often thought of Shylock's exclamation: 'A Daniel come to judgement; yea, a Daniel!'. For not only have the editors and the publishers done an excellent job, but Daniel's work, as offered in this selection, embodies many of the qualities that at this stage our discipline is much in need of The editors and the publisher are to be congratulated for producing this admirable scholarly volume, which is most timely."
(Joost Daalder, Parergon, n.s. 17.2, January 2000).
"Those who teach English Renaissance poetry need this volume. The editors furnish glosses adequate for most modern students--no mean feat in itself, deciding which which words and expressions may be recognised, which totally unfamiliar. Beyond simply defining words, these glosses give the source for allusions and suggest connections a Renaissance reader would likely make. Each selection is prefaced by a thoughtful introduction, placing the work in Daniel's life and pointing to elements that might most interest a modern reader. There is a thorough bibliography of critical material.
One of the finest features of this edition is its introductory material, in which Hiller and Groves outline Daniel's life, evaluate his progress as a poet, and show his place in contemporary poetical and political communities. Daniel could be characterised (as the editors do) as a man whose 'intellectual life can be seen as a kind of dialogue--or perhaps a lover's quarrel--with humanism.'
In addition to presenting a fair picture of the man's role in his own day, Hiller and Groves have highlighted current literary preoccupations to which Daniel speaks throughout his work
To let a poet such as Samuel Daniel speak so eloquently to an age so different from his own is no mean achievement. Teachers, students and other aficionados of English Renaissance poetry will long be grateful to Geoffrey Hiller and Peter L. Groves for their accomplishment."
(Marjory E Lange, Sixteenth Century Journal 31 (2000): 1197-9).