When Robert Nye's first poems were published, G.S. Fraser declared in the Times Literary Supplement: "Here is a proper poet, though it is hard to see how the larger literary public (greedy for flattery of their own concerns) could be brought to recognise that. But other proper poets - how many of them are left? - will recognize one of themselves." Since then Nye has become known to a large public for his novels, especially Falstaff (1976).