In the short time that Spring Essence has been in print, many critics have given the book good reviews. Sam Howe Verhovek says, in his 2001 review of the book for the New York Times: "The book has drawn glowing reviews on both sides of the Pacific and was mentioned by President Bill Clinton in a toast during his trip to Vietnam." Much of the attention for the book has not centered on the poetry itself, although this book does mark the first major publication of Ho's poems. Instead, the book has been hailed for its groundbreaking achievement in linguistics, namely its typographic representation of Nom—the nearly extinct Vietnamese ideographic script that Ho used to write her poems. The Publishers Weekly reviewer in 2000 says, "It's the backstory more than the actual English renderings of these poems that has been generating pre-pub attention for this title." This pre-publication attention was also encouraged by a huge media campaign by Copper Canyon Press, the small literary press that published Spring Essence. This included "Nine Times out of Ten: John Balaban and the Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong," a critical essay—written by Michael Wiegers, Copper Canyon's managing editor—that was published in the prestigious American Poetry Review.

However, despite the fact that many reviewers focus on the book's background, some critics do address the poems themselves. Donna Seaman says, in her 2000 review of the book for Booklist: "But all such historic concerns pale in the presence of Ho Xuan Huong's saucy voice, vital imagery, and nimble, teasing, sexy, and wise protestations and philosophical observations." Seaman says that these poems "transcend time, geography, and culture with startling directness, relevance, and verve." Likewise, Verhovek notes that the "poems are often good for a laugh and many have not-so-hidden sexual imagery." Verhovek also likes other, less overt poems, which "use timeless natural images and simply sound beautiful, both in Vietnamese and now in Mr. Balaban's translations." Not everybody gives the English translations glowing praise, however. The Publishers Weekly reviewer notes that "the translations, as tightly wound as they are, won't bear repeated perusals." This reviewer also comments on the book's racy cover, which features a topless woman with her face covered. The reviewer says, it is a "lame, bare-breasted attempt at titillation."