Robert Burns
Epes Sargent, in Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry (1882) 253.
As a lyrical poet, Burns is unsurpassed in all literature. So quick and genial were his sympathies, that he was easily stirred to lyrical melody by whatever was good and beautiful, whether in external nature or in the human heart and life. His energy and truth — the downright earnestness of his emotions and convictions — stamp the highest value on his writings.