The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry by Eliot T. S. (1996-04-05) Paperback

by T.S. Eliot

Few admirers of the criticism of T.S. Eliot have been able to read anything but summaries or extracts from the eight unpublished lectures on metaphysical poetry that he gave at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1926, or the revised sequence delivered in Baltimore in 1933.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Poetry, American, Essays

Paperback

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry." He wrote the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay Tradition and the Individual Talent. Eliot was born an American, moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at the age of 25), and became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.S._Eliot

Reviews

[J. Alfred · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one that I'll hurry back to any time soon, and one that, somewhat damningly, in my opinion, tells one more about the lecturer than the topic, these lectures are, as Dr. Johnson says of the metaphysical poets themselves, intensely concerned with showing their own learning. If one is interested in Donne and Dante, whom the lectures are nominally about, one could do better elsewhere in finding out strong analysis of their work. If one is interested in Eliot, these are perhaps slightly illuminating (or as illuminating as one described as "the poet of impersonality" allows himself to be), especially the Turnbull Lectures, which are essentially the Clark lectures at fighting weight.

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really just a book on Eliot's theory of poetry as exemplified by John Donne; or rather, lectures that Eliot never revised into book form, being distracted by his sudden conversion to theocratic Anglicism. The basic idea is that the purest form of poetry is philosophically objective, the poet writing about his life & the world in terms of a definitive positive schema. Dante and Cavalcanti were, for Eliot and the other modernists, the ultimate exemplars of this view; Donne represents a version in 'decline', presenting a less determinate world-view with extreme poetical complexity, something that Eliot contends Milton and Dryden would take away from English verse in exchange for Latinate ornaments. For Eliot's theory alone this is very interesting reading, but his analyses of Donne, Cowley and Crashaw (he mostly left out the others) are also very thorough and elucidative; his characterization of Donne as a semi-obsessive neurotic, starting from simplicity and then 'losing himself' by focus on stark metaphors, something that Cowley &co failed to do by singular interest in intricacy - this is probably the best description of the effect of Donne's works, and why they're so pleasing (at least to me) in contrast to his less convincing imitators. He also takes some time to look into Donne's longer poetical tracts and satires in a way that seems sensitive to their unique character (insofar as I'm familiar with them, which is mainly from the lengthy excerpts here). Much of his scope of course looks forward as well, with an interesting theory on the romantics and then later the French symbolists as 'reclaiming' this philosophical objectivity from the 18th century.

In all, definitely something worth reading in conjunct with Eliot, Donne, the metaphysicals, or all; although 'the turnbull lectures' included here are just an abbreviated re-cap of the main set of lectures, and are totally superfluous

[Rick-Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first lecture or two is worthwhile for the idea of sensibility and intellect as it pertains to Eliot's conception of metaphysical poetry and its tradition with Dante to the Symbolists.

That said, I didn't find the treatment of conceit I was looking for. While there are some interesting ideas afloat in the lectures, it's really best for folks who want to get a sense of Eliot's comparative lit theory and not much more.

[David Loveland · Rating 4 out of 5]

T.S.Eliot has to be one of the most intelligent literary critics to have ever lived. Whenever I write an essay I always look to see if he's written on the subject (he usually has!) because he always offers great, intelligent insights.

[Carl Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brushing up on Donne because Thaddeus Barlow is about to meet a Donne scholar.