Curiosa: Words to Live By

[nebroadwe]

From a lecture by T.S. Eliot on John Milton, read 26 March 1947:

I believe that the scholar and the practitioner in the field of literary criticism should supplement each other's work. The criticism of the practitioner will be all the better, certainly, if he is not wholly destitute of scholarship; and the criticism of the scholar will be all the better if he has some experience of the difficulties of writing verse.

Amen, brother. Amen.

Comments

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

I second that Amen. T.S. Elliot always sticks in my head as one of the smartest writers ever.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

His criticism sometimes sounds dated to me now, but his poetry never does. The guy could spin words like tops.

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Eliot probably could have, though. :-)

[mulzrule.livejournal.com]

lol