This is a labeled as a story by T.S. Elliot but itis really an essay of sorts. It is sort of a judgement or
critical by
T.S. Elliot of the work by Matthew Arnold. Who I
believe Elliot might be calling one of the first critics of writing. From what I know of Elliot he is a reasonable man, but in this particular piece he seems to be thrashing Arnolds opinions. I am sure that is not what he meant to do. I believe this piece was meant to start a new thought of critical thinking and judgement of a piece of writing. Elliot quotes particular parts of Arnold essay of criticism and gives his opinionon what Arnold has said. He indicates points of agreement and disagreement. But you can tell that he does not agree with a lot of what Arnold has
written. It reads like two men discussing back and forth their point of view on the works of other people. It is easy to read and if you are a fan of either writer it definately makes you take a side. The title for the piece actually comes out of the piece because Arnold accused that literary periodicals were dependant on second-order or second rate writers to keep them going. I believe that in itself is what prompted Elliot to write this extremely critical piece about Arnolds work. Its almost like watching two men duke it out on paper. You can definately tell that Elliot was not happy when Arnold published his piece, however he does not insult the fact that people should be allowed to publish their opinions good or bad. It even battles whether London or Paris produces genius writers. This may be the spark that caused such friction between the english and the french. Who knows. I think this is a well written work and it would beinteresting to get a hold of Arnold work that Elliot quoted and compare and contrast the two of them. It would probably make for a good discussion.