For For readers of Eliot's plays who want his own candid verdict on them. Short and readable.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
2 of 5worth a look
For the researcher
4 of 5important
Difficulty
2 of 5moderate
Eliot's frank review of his own verse plays and what he was trying to do in them.
How it proceeds
Philosophic2 of 5
Scriptural0 of 5
Experiential1 of 5
Sociological1 of 5
Historical1 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
The first Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, given at Harvard in 1950 and published by Harvard University Press in 1951. Eliot reviews his own plays, Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party, frankly assessing what succeeded and what failed in each, and explains his aim of a verse the audience would not notice as verse. It was reprinted in On Poetry and Poets.
