To criticize the critic and other writings

These influential essay and lectures by T. S. Eliot span nearly a half century--from 1917, when he publishedThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,to 1961, four years before his death. With the luminosity and clarity of a first-rate intellect, Eliot considers the uses of literary criticism, the writers who had the greatest influence on his own work, and the importance of being truly educated. Every thoughtful person who yearns to do more than simply get through the day will be reinforced byThe Aims of Education.

Other pieces includeTo Criticize the Critic,From Poe to Valéry,American Literature and the American Language,What Dante Means to Me,The Literature of Politics,The Classics and the Man of Letters,Ezra Pound: His Metric and Poetry,andReflections on Vers Libre.