394
PARTISAN REVIEW
occupied at her death. I have called her the expressive figure of
the lower classes. There is no such expressive figure for any
other classes. The middle classes have no such idol: the
middl~
classes are morally corrupt ..."
Eliot then goes on to express his fear that, with the disappearance
of the music-hall, and "the encroachment of the cheap and
rapid-breeding -cinema, the lower classes will drop to the same
state of protoplasm as ·the bourgeoisie", and,
moreov~r,
when
this state has overcome them, that they may die off from sheer
boredom! This essay, written in 1923, closes with words of
deep dismay as to the possibility of the hastening of this gen–
eral disintegration by the development of another mechanical
device for transmitting amusement,-the radio.
Eliot underestimated his "lower classes". The music-hall
disappeared only after it had reached a high point of breadth
and elegance. Folk expression continually runs toward this
elegance, contrary to. the
idee
recue
of its being by necessity
chimsy and "vulgar". (And this elegance is not to be confused
with the empty slickness of the revue kind.) But as a rather
stuffy set of pre-war conventions broke, the urban crowd shifted
toward a freer, less imitative and reverent habit of mind and
manner. Something new began immediately; persistent energy
released itself into new forms and new media.
The energy is now at a more primitive level than formerly;
these shifts go back and forth, as this current of urban life or
that is released and breaks; many reasons requiring specialized
attention are here involved. But the fact remains that American
folk has never been more vigorous than at this moment. Words
are attached to music, as in all primitive states of poetry and
music. Improvisation (the "lick") is in every talented per–
former's power. The rhythm is the important matter; the music
has all the harmonic tricks under control with which to surround
and embellish the beat. The various mechanical devices which
Eliot feared and deplored have served, as a matter of fact, to
aid the development and dissemination of this folk-art. The
folk n9w gets exactly what it wants to listen to.
If
the radio
does
nbt
give it what it needs in sufficient quantity, people have
their records and juke boxes, and, of course the live performers.
The vigor
pf
folk at present is shown by its tendency to raid over
