Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series Editor's Preface
- Introduction
- Acknowledgments
- Prufrock and Other Observations (1917)
- Poems (1919); Ara Vos Prec (1920); Poems (1920)
- The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920, 1921)
- The Waste Land (1922)
- Homage to John Dryden (1924)
- Poems 1909–1925 (1925)
- For Lancelot Andrewes: Essays on Style and Order (1928, 1929)
- Dante (1929); Animula (1929); Marina (1930)
- Ash-Wednesday (1930)
- Selected Essays 1917–1932 (1932)
- Sweeney Agonistes (1932)
- The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933)
- After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (1934)
- The Rock (1934)
- Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
- Collected Poems 1909–1935 (1936)
- The Family Reunion (1939)
- The Idea of a Christian Society (1939)
- East Coker (1940); Burnt Norton (1941); The Dry Salvages (1941); Little Gidding (1942); Four Quartets (1943)
- Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948, 1949)
- The Cocktail Party (1949, 1950)
- The Confidential Clerk (1954)
- The Elder Statesman (1959)
- Index
Selected Essays 1917–1932 (1932)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Series Editor's Preface
- Introduction
- Acknowledgments
- Prufrock and Other Observations (1917)
- Poems (1919); Ara Vos Prec (1920); Poems (1920)
- The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920, 1921)
- The Waste Land (1922)
- Homage to John Dryden (1924)
- Poems 1909–1925 (1925)
- For Lancelot Andrewes: Essays on Style and Order (1928, 1929)
- Dante (1929); Animula (1929); Marina (1930)
- Ash-Wednesday (1930)
- Selected Essays 1917–1932 (1932)
- Sweeney Agonistes (1932)
- The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933)
- After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (1934)
- The Rock (1934)
- Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
- Collected Poems 1909–1935 (1936)
- The Family Reunion (1939)
- The Idea of a Christian Society (1939)
- East Coker (1940); Burnt Norton (1941); The Dry Salvages (1941); Little Gidding (1942); Four Quartets (1943)
- Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948, 1949)
- The Cocktail Party (1949, 1950)
- The Confidential Clerk (1954)
- The Elder Statesman (1959)
- Index
Summary
*V. Sackville-West.
"Books of the Week."
Listener 8 (28 September
1932), 461.
[ … ]
[T]o the fastidious reader I would now like to recommend the Selected Essays of T. S. Eliot. These essays are chosen by Mr. Eliot himself out of work done by him since the year 1917, and I recommend them not because I delude myself into the belief that Mr. Eliot will ever find appreciation among a very large number of people, but because I honestly believe him to stand among the most acute of contemporary critics, and certainly among the most notable of contemporary poets. I think, therefore, that I should be guilty of dishonesty towards myself and towards you if I failed to draw your attention to this book of essays, however stiff you may find it to read. I do not say that you will enjoy it; you certainly will not, unless you happen to have an austere and scholarly taste, akin to the taste of Mr. Eliot himself. You may find, indeed, that it leaves you feeling as though you had bitten into a sloe; and if you have ever bitten into a sloe you will know what I mean—as though your mouth were all dried up suddenly by a strangely astringent juice. Mr. Eliot's criticism has this astringent quality. It is severe and dry. It is restrained and unemotional; above all, it is not in the least picturesque. It makes no concessions to the popular taste.
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- T. S. EliotThe Contemporary Reviews, pp. 193 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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