The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism by T. S. Eliot

"The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism" by T. S. Eliot is a collection of literary essays written in the early 20th century. The work explores various aspects of poetry and criticism, reflecting Eliot's thoughts on the evolution of literary practices and the roles of the poet and critic in society. It discusses the importance of tradition, the relationship between old and new works, and the proper function of criticism within literature. The opening portion introduces Eliot’s perspective on literary criticism through a reflection on Matthew Arnold and the Romantic Generation. He critiques the overemphasis of personal sentiment in criticism and the tendency of critics to stray from the essential task of comprehending literature itself. Eliot articulates his belief that true criticism should involve a historical awareness, recognizing the influence of past works on contemporary literature. He emphasizes the necessity to engage with the entire literary tradition, arguing that a poet’s value is inherently tied to their understanding of and relationship with both contemporary and historical texts. This sets the stage for a deeper investigation into the nature of poetic expression and the critic's role in articulating and preserving the art form. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965
LoC No. 21026286
Title The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacred_Wood
Contents Introduction -- The perfect critic -- Imperfect critics: Swinburne as a critic. A romantic aristocrat [George Wyndham]. The local flavour. A note on the American critic. The French intelligence -- Tradition and the individual talent -- The possibility of a poetic drama -- Euripides and Professor Murray -- Rhetoric and poetic drama -- Notes on the blank verse of Christopher Marlowe -- Hamlet and his problems -- Ben Jonson -- Philip Massinger -- Swinburne as poet -- Blake -- Dante.
Credits Produced by Meredith Bach, David King, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net. (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Reading Level Reading ease score: 56.0 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read.
Language English
LoC Class PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections
Subject Literature
Subject Criticism
Category Text
eBook-No. 57795
Release Date
Copyright Public domain in the USA.
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