Famous as an accomplished poet, T. S. Eliot was also the author of some highly important literary criticism. First published in 1920, The Sacred Wood collects 13 of Eliotâs early critical essays. He intended them to be a statement of his principles for literary achievement. These conceptsâand the works that Eliot wrote after setting out his principlesâinspired many major poets of the twentieth century. Some wanted to imitate him, while many others looked to disagree with him. But few since can be said to have fully escaped Eliotâs influence.
In these essays, Eliot proposes rules for how a poet should relate to a poem and to the poetic tradition. His twin concepts of âimpersonalityâ and âtraditionâ have had a lasting impact. The Sacred Woodâs arguments fueled conversations in the literary world for several decades, and established Eliotâs reputation as a fine literary critic. Indeed, many consider him to be one of the greatest of the twentieth century. The Sacred Wood shows why.