Includes bibliographical references and index Reflections on Vers libre (1917) -- Tradition and the individual talent (1919) -- Hamlet (1919) -- The perfect critic (1921) -- The metaphysical poets (1921) -- The function of criticism (1923) -- from: Preface to Anabasis (1930) -- from: The use of poetry and the use of criticism (1933) -- Religion and literature (1935) -- from: The music of poetry (1942) -- What is a classic? (1944) -- Poetry and drama (1951) -- from: Ezra Pound: His music and poetry (1917) -- from: Henry James (1918) -- from: Philip Massinger (1920) -- Andrew Marvell (1921) - Marie Lloyd (1922) -- Ulyssis, order, and myth (1923) -- Lancelot Andrewes (1926) -- from: Thomas Middleton (1927) -- Francis Herbert Bradley (1927) -- Dante (1929) -- from: Baudelaire (1930) -- from: The Pensees of Pascal (1931) -- In memoriam (1936) -- Yeats (1940) -- Milton I (1936) -- from: Milton II (1947) -- The humanism of Irving Babbitt (1928) -- from: The idea of a Christian society (1939) -- from: Notes towards the defense of culture (1948) Thirty-one of Eliot's most influential critical essays on general literary topics, individual authors, and social and religious themes are edited in their entirety or in substantial extract by the distinguished English scholar-critic