Eliot’s Early Poetry in Perspective

T.S. Eliot remains one of the most widely read poets of the 20 century, and perhaps the greatest. There has, however, been quite a dearth of critical material on his early poetry which has largely perplexed literary critics. This book provides, for the first time, a lucid exposition of Prufrock and Other Observations 1917 and Poems 1920. Viewing the poems in the larger context of the poet-critic’s life and works, it repudiates a great many assumptions about his early poetry, bridges the artificial gulf between the early and the later work, and makes for greater clarity of understanding. A fascinating study of Eliot’s spiritual odyssey, it would definitely appeal to lovers of his poetry.