ABSTRACT
Mr. T. S. Eliot is one of the important forces in modern American literature. He owes his importance to two facts: first, that he is an American who chooses to live in Europe in the face of our so-called intellectual awakening at home; secondly, that he is a poet and critic of great and recognized value abroad. As the editor of the Criterion he is associated with a group—if such diverse personalities can be said to compose a group—which is beginning to set up a standard in Europe. Americans who read contemporary European literature are almost invariably led to classify the show according to Mr. Eliot’s scheme, which he has expressed both poetically and in prose. I propose therefore to attempt to understand what this scheme is; an undertaking which is made difficult by Mr. Eliot’s habits of discretion and allusiveness.
