Eliot's Contemporaries

T.S. Eliot, criticism and fellow writers:

T.S. Eliot's work was not welcomed by all, though admired and loved by many. There were people who even thought that his poems were not actually poems, because of his constant references to other people's works and their quotations.

Eliot however considered necessary and gave much importance to it. Eliot himself was known for his criticism and even influenced the New criticism. He was considered by many to be the greatest critic of the 20th century. His criticisms were seen to be very penetrating and detailed.

Eliot was known for his writing of Metaphysical subjects and many writers and poets were influenced by him. His own work The Waste Land, was considered by many to be an hoax or joke and his critics were not very soft on him.

"Catholicity", which was published in 1947, as a contribution to the process which resulted in the Church of England's Report on Doctrine (1948), was in fact produced by a group, with a lot of senior clergy in it. Eliot was a member of this group in 1946.

A Commission produced, The Revised Psalter, in 1963 and Eliot was made to be part of it, by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1958। C।S. Lewis was a member of this commission and a not so sweet relationship between them, turned into a friendship.

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis himself called Eliot's Literary criticism to be "unscholarly and superficial". T.S. Eliot received a letter from C.S. Lewis, in 1934, with the following comment,

"I hope the fact that I find myself often contradicting you in print gives no offence; it is a kind of tribute to you—whenever I fall foul of some widespread contemporary view about literature I always seem to find that you have expressed it most clearly. One aims at the officers first in meeting an attack!"

Antagonism and admiration were often seen in C.S. Lewis view on T.S. Eliot. Fellow writers and critics like Ted Hughes and Hugh Kenner how however expressed great admiration and love for his work.

Ted Hughes had stated, "Each year Eliot's presence reasserts itself at a deeper level, to an audience that is surprised to find itself more chastened, more astonished, more humble.”

Hugh Kenner had commented, "He has been the most gifted and influential literary critic in English in the twentieth century." However, other writers have not supported this view