Selected Essays - 1917-1932

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora

A collection of T. S. Eliot’s major literary essays spanning 1917 to 1932, arranged by topic and chronology. The table of contents highlights criticism, dramatic poetry, and studies of major writers, including discussions of tradition, criticism’s function, and the role of rhetorical and poetic drama. The opening chapter “Tradition and the Individual Talent” develops a theory of how writers inherit and transform prior art while resisting mere imitation, emphasizing maturity over adolescent influence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages261

Reading Time6 h 42 min

AccessFree to download

Table of Contents

Tradition and the Individual Talent (1917)

The Function of Criticism (1923)

“Rhetoric” and Poetic Drama (1919)

A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry (1928)

Euripides and Professor Murray (1918)

Seneca in Elizabethan Translation (1927)

The Elizabethan Dramatists (1924)

Christopher Marlowe (1918)

Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca (1927)

Hamlet and His Problems (1919)

Ben Jonson (1919)

Thomas Middleton (1927)

Thomas Heywood (1931)

Cyril Tourneur (1931)

John Ford (1932)

Philip Massinger (1920)

Dante (1929)

The Metaphysical Poets (1921)

Andrew Marvell (1921)

John Dryden (1922)

William Blake (1920)

Swinburne As Poet (1920)

Lancelot Andrewes (1926)

John Bramhall (1927)

Thoughts After Lambeth (1931)

Baudelaire (1930)

Arnold and Pater (1930)

Francis Herbert Bradley (1926)

Marie Lloyd (1923)

Wilkie Collins and Dickens (1927)

The Humanism of Irving Babbitt (1927)

Table of Contents Title Page Table of Contents Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments I Tradition and the Individual Talent (1917) The Function of Criticism (1923) II “Rhetoric” and Poetic Drama (1919) A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry (1928) Euripides and Professor Murray (1918) Seneca in Elizabethan Translation (1927) III The Elizabethan Dramatists (1924) Christopher Marlowe (1918) Shakespeare and the Stoicism of Seneca (1927) Hamlet and His Problems (1919) Ben Jonson (1919) Thomas Middleton (1927) Thomas Heywood (1931) Cyril Tourneur (1931) John Ford (1932) Philip Massinger (1920) IV Dante (1929) V The Metaphysical Poets (1921) Andrew Marvell (1921) John Dryden (1922) William Blake (1920) Swinburne As Poet (1920) VI Lancelot Andrewes (1926) John Bramhall (1927) Thoughts After Lambeth (1931) VII Baudelaire (1930) Arnold and Pater (1930) Francis Herbert Bradley (1926) Marie Lloyd (1923) Wilkie Collins and Dickens (1927) The Humanism of Irving Babbitt (1927) Second Thoughts on Humanism (1929) Charles Whibley (1931) About the Author Footnotes Copyright, 1932, by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003. [www.hmhco.com](www.hmhco.com) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. eISBN 978-0-547-54379-6 v1 .0314 TO Harriet Shaw Weaver IN GRATITUDE, AND IN RECOGNITION OF HER SERVICES TO ENGLISH LETTERS MY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS are due to Messrs. Methuen & Co. Ltd. and Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (for the parts of The Sacred Wood, reprinted); to Messrs. Doubleday, Doran & Co. (for essays reprinted from For Lancelot Andrewes); to The Hogarth Press (Homage to John Dryden); to The Haslewood Press (for A Dialogue on Dramatic Poetry); to Messrs. Constable & Co. Ltd. (for Seneca in Elizabethan Translation, originally printed as Introduction to the Tudor Translations Series edition of the Tenne Tragedies); to the Shakespeare Association and the Oxford University Press (Shakespeare and the Senecan Tradition); to Mr. Walter de la Mare and the Royal Society of Literature (Arnold and Pater); to The Blackamore Press(Baudelaire); to the English Association (Charles Whibley). Also to The Egoist, The Athenaeum, The Times Literary Supplement, Art and Letters, The Hound and Horn, The Bookman, and The Criterion, in which most of these papers originally appeared. My thanks are also due to Mr. B. L. Richmond, without whose suggestions and encouragement the essays on Elizabethan dramatists would not have been written; and to Mr. F. V. Morley for his assistance in selecting the essays and in reading the proofs, and for his pertinacity in harrying me todo what work I have myself done in preparation of this volume. T. S. E. London: April, 1932. I Tradition and the Individual Talent (1917) IN English writing we seldom speak of tradition, though we occasionally apply its name in deploring its absence. We cannot refer to “the tradition” or to “a tradition”; at most, we employ the adjective in saying that the poetry of So-and-so is “traditional” or even “too traditional.” Seldom, perhaps, does the word appear except in a phrase ofcensure. If otherwise, it is vaguely approbative, with the implication, as to the work approved, of some pleasing archaeological reconstruction. You can hardly make the word agreeable to English ears without this comfortable reference to the reassuring science of archaeology. Certainly the word is not likely to appear in our appreciations of living or dead writers. Every nation, eve

FAQs

What is the central idea of “Tradition and the Individual Talent” in this volume?

It argues that tradition is not mere repetition of past successes. A writer’s most individual and mature work can be the place where earlier poets’ influence becomes most powerfully active.

How does the book frame the function of criticism?

It treats criticism as an inevitable part of reading and intellectual life, focusing on how we articulate what we experience when judging a work and how such judgment reveals mental processes.

Which kinds of literary subjects does the collection cover?

The essays move across literary criticism and interpretation, dramatic poetry and rhetoric, and studies of specific authors and historical traditions in English literature.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora