The Criticism of Evasion: The Non-literary Margins in T. S. Eliot’s Early Criticism

This paper traces the non-literary margins in the youthful criticism of T. S. Eliot, focusing exclusively on the early essays in which he assumes an aesthetic stand in his early years as a critic. In "Tradition and Individual Talent," "Function of Criticism," "The Metaphysical Poets," besides other essays, Eliot pretends that literary appreciation/criticism can be practiced in isolation from any external influence, and that principles of criticism are purely literary in their origin as well as in their practice, that of establishing the value of the literary works. Relatedly, Eliot proposes that ʹemotionsʹ, ʹfeelingsʹ and ʹexperiencesʹ in the literary work can be evaluated without connection to their non-literary margins. This paper explodes such claims by suggesting that non-literary margins dominated and shaped the early critical formulations and judgments of Eliot.