The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical EditionVol. 5: Tradition and Orthodoxy, 1934-1939

Correspondence: “That Poetry Is Made with Words”

The New English Weekly, 15 (11 May 1939) 66

Mr. Eliot writes:

My objection to the study of aesthetics by artists was empirical. Mr. Tomlin’s rejoinder is based upon an aesthetic theory: namely, that the reader of a poem shares the activity of the poet. ¹ This may be a tenable aesthetic theory, but I do not see that the holding of it enables the reader to enjoy or appreciate the poem any better. Mr. Tomlin says that “to appreciate poetry is to come as near as possible to feeling as the poet felt when writing it.” This reminds me of the investigator who, after an encounter with a ghost, reported that he “come as near to bein’ strangled as made no difference.” ²