BOOKS
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parison-he compares him with Dante. Over the other names I cannot
go into detail, but it seems to me that what Mr. Eliot sees in them is
honesty of self-revelation, extending in some cases to the search for
subjective truth and unity of consciousness. (I don't say that I think
he is correct in all cases.)
In fact what is still one of Mr. Eliot's most profound concerns–
and it is the one which is central to this volume-is the famous disso–
ciation of sensibility. This was one of his formulae which had, as he
says, a success in the world astonishing to its author. It was the belief
that
in
the seventeenth century a split in thought and feeling took
place from which poetry in particular has never quite recovered. Those
who supported Mr. Eliot's opinion often attributed the dissociation to
the seventeenth century development of science. Mr. Eliot did not ac–
tually so far commit himself about the sciences, although it appeared
he did not like them; what he did say was that the sources of this
dissociation were Milton and Dryden and that what they affected was
the language of poetry. As a purely poetic influence Milton was ana–
thema to Mr. Eliot, who has now however come to terms with him, in
two essays almost entirely concerned with him as a poetic practitioner,
THE SCHOOL OF LETTERS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
SUMMER 1958
Courses on the graduate level in the theory and practice
of literary Criticism
Including work toward advanced degrees in
Criticism, English literature, and Comparative literature
SENIOR FELLOWS
John Crowe Ransom
Lionel Trilling
Allen Tate
Austin Warren
Philip Rahv
Courses to be given during the Summer of 1958 by:
Richard Blackmur, Richard Chase, John Crowe Ransom, and others.
A FEW ALL-EXPENSE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE TO
QUALIFIED STUDENTS
Address inquiries to The Director,
The School of Letters, Welborn House,
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
