549:
47:, an unusual characteristic for modern criticism—it has become far more usual today for poets and critics to be in separate camps, rather than united in one individual. Perhaps even more importantly, it demonstrates the progress and change in Eliot's own critical thought over the years between 1919 and 1956.
184:
by stanza and line by line, and extract, squeeze, tease, press every drop of meaning out of it that one can. It might be called the lemon-squeezer school of criticism. . . . I imagine that some of the poets (they are all dead except myself) would be surprised at learning what their poems mean . . .
138:
Eliot's paper is a concise statement of his reactions to the new directions that literary criticism had taken in the years since the publication in 1923 of his article "The
Function of Criticism." In this way, the paper is also a more mature re-evaluation of his own positions. Much of its length is
93:
Eliot is often claimed by the New
Critics as one of their founding fathers, an "honor" he rejected for much the same reasons that he avoided explicit theorising on the subject of literature: namely, because of his conception of the only true criticism as that of a poet trying to better his art. In
147:
Throughout, the essay demonstrates the influences Eliot had on the New
Critics. While Eliot states early on that he failed to see why he was deemed by current literary scholarship to have given birth to New Criticism (106), he also uses the essay as a platform from which to proclaim a number of
84:
The essay also makes the point that "No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. . . . The existing monuments form an ideal order among themselves, which is modified by the
284:
We can therefore ask, about any writing which is offered to us as literary criticism, is it aimed towards understanding and enjoyment? If it is not, it may still be a legitimate and useful activity; but it is to be judged as a contribution to psychology, or sociology, or
407:'s argument that there is no text without the mind of a reader; in other words, since the only way for a poem to exist is for it to be constructed in a reader's mind by the act of reading, there is no possibility of "misunderstanding" any work of literature.
238:
These works provide Eliot a springboard from which to launch an "analysis" of his own poems. He takes an amused tone when describing his feelings on hearing what some readers have thought about his various works, with primary reference to
60:
Part of the reason for the importance of this particular piece in Eliot's body of work is the position it holds as successor to an earlier (and probably better known) effort at defining the critical endeavour,
201:," seeing the two not "as distinct activities—one emotional and the other intellectual. . . . To understand a poem comes to the same thing as to enjoy it for the right reasons" (115). On the whole question of
205:, Eliot diverges from the general trend of New Criticism, which primarily concerned itself with interpretation. Eliot further distances himself from the New Critics with his implication of the possibility of
97:
The evaluation of Eliot's criticism occurred relatively early; for example, an appraisal of his work focusing exclusively on Eliot the critic (as opposed to Eliot the poet) appeared in 1941 in a book by
403:
The precise line from Eliot's paper is "to enjoy a poem under a misunderstanding is to enjoy what is merely a projection of our own mind." The "official" New
Critical line on this subject would follow
245:. Eliot discusses the process by which the notes to that poem came to be, saying that, to his regret, "They have had almost greater popularity than the poem itself" (110). Eliot uses the example of
301:
criticism . . . consists of essays on poets and poetic dramatists who had influenced me" (106). In this, Eliot has something in common with the style of literary criticism expounded by
73:
to describe the process of "depersonalization" that Eliot claimed to be a necessary condition of poetic creation. In this analogy, Eliot compares the poet him- or herself to a
122:. In their theories of literary criticism, it is of vital importance to separate the work in question from all other factors, both on the side of creation (i.e., the
39:
criticism, as opposed to, for example, a study in history based upon a work of literature. The essay is significant because it represents Eliot's response to the
85:
introduction of the new (the really new) work of art among them." Eliot contended that while art never actually got better, it was in a continual state of flux.
269:
criticism. Also like the New
Critics, he allows that there is merit to such studies. He credits Coleridge with bringing other disciplines (e.g., philosophy,
172:
However, at the same time, Eliot takes the opportunity to disavow that school of criticism. He ridicules one of the methods of New
Criticism, known today as
189:
Eliot is here giving voice to one of the most common objections to New
Criticism, namely that it removes all the enjoyment from a work of literature by
43:
perspective which had taken the academic study of literature by storm during Eliot's lifetime. It also presents an analysis of some of its author's own
297:
The argument of the essay is for a strongly individualist criticism, made clear by the frequent references to the author's own works. "The best of my
571:
265:
Eliot, like the New
Critics, distinguishes among types or classes of criticism, isolating (as the lecture's title suggests) a certain area for
217:
A large part of this lecture is devoted to Eliot's critique of what he calls "the criticism by explanation of origins" (107). One of these is
193:
it. This essay strongly asserts that enjoyment is an important component of the reading of literature. Eliot makes no distinction between "
839:
110:
effect as independent of religious effect, or moral, or political and social; as an end that is beyond and not co-ordinate with these.
235:, a work composed mostly what Eliot refers to as "merely beautiful nonsense" (109) that has puzzled critics since its publication.
77:, whose presence causes "feelings" and "emotions" to react with one another and combine in ways not possible without the poet's
564:
155:
the "danger . . . of assuming that there must be just one interpretation of the poem as a whole, that it must be right" (113)
975:
434:
783:
774:
758:
719:
467:
62:
31:, a collection of Eliot's critical essays, in 1957. The essay is an attempt by Eliot to define the boundaries of
273:) into the field of literary study. Eliot defines specifically literary criticism as criticism written in order
980:
733:
705:
180:
The method is to take a well-known poem . . . without reference to the author or to his other work, analyse it
726:
523:
767:
687:
585:
889:
474:
427:
913:
452:
921:
856:
712:
659:
488:
139:
involved in this kind of self-study, both of his earlier critical work as well as of his poetry.
24:
884:
680:
335:
293:, or some other pursuit—and it is to be judged by specialists, not by men of letters. (116–17)
620:
222:
44:
985:
954:
578:
516:
420:
102:. Ransom, participating in the New Critical tradition of borrowing from Eliot, writes that
8:
949:
862:
530:
123:
673:
666:
592:
32:
94:
some of his work, Eliot had espoused the idea of criticism as necessarily impersonal.
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834:
645:
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537:
127:
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929:
905:
804:
799:
613:
119:
829:
652:
481:
794:
509:
502:
302:
241:
231:
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the idea of the circumstances surrounding a work's creation as irrelevant (112)
65:. In that earlier piece (first published in 1919), Eliot made famous use of a
969:
897:
823:
627:
548:
340:
173:
115:
40:
868:
599:
404:
168:
criticism to the study of the literary object, i.e., the work itself (116)
106:
One of the best things in his influence has been his habit of considering
443:
226:
20:
944:
934:
374:
357:
270:
190:
114:
This is quite similar to the New
Critical attitudes of such authors as
107:
495:
305:, known for its emphasis on reading to make oneself a better writer.
209:
a poem (115), an idea that the New
Critics would consider heretical.
70:
290:
212:
74:
66:
225:, a work that is now virtually unknown. The other, however, is
181:
148:
principles that are quite similar to those of the New Critics:
412:
286:
78:
158:
the lack of a need to assess the author's intent (113–14)
35:: to say what does, and what does not, constitute truly
161:
the unimportance of the "feelings" of the reader (114)
260:
334:Eliot's lecture was delivered on 30 April 1956 in
572:The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles
967:
384:
213:Difference between understanding and explanation
142:
428:
840:T. S. Eliot Prize (Truman State University)
314:T. S. Eliot, "The Frontiers of Criticism,"
435:
421:
88:
394:(Norfolk, CT: New Directions, 1941), 138.
133:
318:(London: Faber and Faber, 1957), 103–18.
968:
338:to an audience of 14,000 at a stadium.
249:to illuminate the distinction between
55:
416:
358:"Tradition and the Individual Talent"
784:Canticle IV: The Journey of the Magi
720:Tradition and the Individual Talent
565:Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
468:The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
63:Tradition and the Individual Talent
13:
126:) and on that of consumption (the
14:
997:
547:
261:Definition of literary criticism
442:
397:
367:
350:
328:
27:in 1956. It was reprinted in
1:
308:
50:
976:Essays in literary criticism
17:"The Frontiers of Criticism"
7:
768:Assassinio nella cattedrale
734:A Choice of Kipling's Verse
143:Influences on later critics
10:
1002:
890:Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot
742:The Frontiers of Criticism
706:Selected Essays, 1917–1932
914:Charlotte Champe Stearns
877:
848:
815:
751:
697:
637:
556:
545:
459:
450:
922:William Greenleaf Eliot
322:
277:to help his readers to
857:Portrait of T. S. Eliot
776:Murder in the Cathedral
760:Murder in the Cathedral
713:Hamlet and His Problems
660:Murder in the Cathedral
586:Growltiger's Last Stand
489:Whispers of Immortality
89:Eliot and New Criticism
25:University of Minnesota
681:The Confidential Clerk
336:Minneapolis, Minnesota
295:
187:
176:, describing it thus:
134:Content of the lecture
112:
19:is a lecture given by
981:Essays by T. S. Eliot
275:
223:John Livingston Lowes
178:
104:
955:William Butler Yeats
579:Gus: The Theatre Cat
375:"The Perfect Critic"
279:understand and enjoy
950:Jean Jules Verdenal
688:The Elder Statesman
531:Journey of the Magi
390:John Crowe Ransom,
345:T. S. Eliot: A Life
316:On Poetry and Poets
124:writer's intentions
56:Prior critical work
29:On Poetry and Poets
674:The Cocktail Party
667:The Family Reunion
593:The Naming of Cats
475:Portrait of a Lady
219:The Road to Xanadu
164:the limitation of
128:reader's reactions
33:literary criticism
963:
962:
940:John Davy Hayward
925:
917:
909:
906:Henry Ware Eliot
901:
893:
835:T. S. Eliot Prize
646:Sweeney Agonistes
538:A Song for Simeon
392:The New Criticism
100:John Crowe Ransom
993:
930:E. Martin Browne
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614:The Dry Salvages
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347:. (1984) p. 317
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242:The Waste Land
232:Finnegans Wake
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892:(first wife)
885:Eliot family
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795:1981 musical
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45:poetic works
41:New Critical
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16:
15:
986:1956 essays
866:(1984 play,
752:Adaptations
557:Later poems
524:Ariel Poems
460:Early poems
444:T. S. Eliot
251:explanation
227:James Joyce
69:drawn from
21:T. S. Eliot
970:Categories
945:Ezra Pound
935:Emily Hale
869:1994 film)
816:Publishing
607:East Coker
309:References
271:psychology
191:dissecting
51:Background
805:2019 film
800:1998 film
778:(TV play)
496:Gerontion
203:enjoyment
195:enjoyment
108:aesthetic
71:chemistry
916:(mother)
908:(father)
653:The Rock
482:Preludes
299:literary
291:pedagogy
267:literary
166:literary
75:catalyst
67:metaphor
37:literary
849:Related
771:(opera)
381:(1920).
364:(1920).
23:at the
878:People
762:(film)
737:(1941)
281:. ...
185:(113)
182:stanza
698:Prose
638:Plays
323:Notes
289:, or
287:logic
221:, by
790:Cats
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118:and
79:mind
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