However, Stanford's work has received significant critical praise. Alan Dugan called Stanford "a brilliant poet, ample in his work," comparing him to Walt Whitman. Poet Franz Wright called him "one of the great voices of death." Poet Lorenzo Thomas called him "amazing ... a swamprat Rimbaud, poet James Wright referred to him as a "superbly accomplished and moving poet," and poet Richard Eberhart praised the "strange grace of language in the poet's remarkable, unforgettable body of work." Leon Stokesbury introduces "The Light The Dead See" by claiming that Stanford was, "at the time of his death, the best poet in America under the age of thirty-five." Other contemporaries remarked his "perfectly tuned" ears, the "remarkable acuity" of his "clear-cut imagery and spring-tight lines," and his "remarkable talent" as a "testimony to place in American letters."