T. S. Eliot and the Essay

Douglas Atkins' T.S. Eliot and the Essay offers a compelling argument for rethinking the common understanding of Eliot's essayistic writing as cold and pedantic. Instead, Atkins argues—and his argument is a good one—we should recognize the Eliot who moves gracefully between verse and prose as a poet-essayist driven to discover the crucible in which Incarnational truth can provisionally be found. A fine stylist, Atkins' book extends his substantial contribution to scholarship on the essay, while also further solidifying his reputation as a wide-ranging thinker and perceptive writer.

~Tod Marshall, Associate Professor of English, Gonzaga University

Nuanced and perceptive. A marvelous exposition. Atkins takes the reader on a leisurely walk, carefully comparing Montaigne and Bacon, Pope and Dryden, Thoreau, Belloc and modern essayist Scott Russell Sanders. Refusing to accept criticism that marks Eliot as a puritan, Atkins instead sees both Eliot’s prose and poetry as essays that express the ‘impurity’ of the genre and of Eliot’s work.

~Dr. Steven Faulkner, Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction, Longwood University