The baffling symbolism of "The Blue Bird" has not stood in the way of a tremendous international stage success; the fact is due much less to the simple line of thought that runs through the puzzle than to the exuberant fancy that gave rise to it and its splendid Scenical elaboration.
"Prophets of Dissent Essays on Maeterlinck, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Tolstoy"
Otto Heller
His very defects, and the shallowness of his philosophy, promoted his popularity; and by comparison with the French critics on the dramatic or Scenical proprieties he is ever profound.
"Biographical Essays"
Thomas de Quincey
Klopstock was at least an anomaly; Lessing did not present himself in the impassioned walks of literature; Herder was viewed too much in the exclusive and professional light of a clergyman; and, with the exception of John Paul Bichter, a man of most original genius, but quite unfitted for general popularity, no commanding mind arose in Germany with powers for levying homage from foreign nations, until the appearance, as a great Scenical poet, of Frederick Schiller.
"Biographical Essays"
Thomas de Quincey