One of the stand-out Modernists, T.S. Eliot's poetry is rich, innovative and occupies a prominent position in the history of English literature. Perhaps less-well known is his prose, which is equally interesting and significant in terms of the history of modernism.
The bulk of Eliot's prose is in essay form, in which he pondered broader literary questions and debates. His best-known essay is 'Tradition and the Individual Talent', in which Eliot tackles the history of poetry, what it takes to make a poet and the art of writing good poetry. This essay has been read widely in the decades since it was published, becoming a key work in major university English Literature courses. Other essays include ones discussing particular authors or works, such as the essay 'Hamlet'.
Eliot's prose, consequently, sheds fresh light on his poetic method and gives us special insight into the critical workings of Eliot and his contemporaries as he wrote some of the most famous, most loved verse in English of all time.
