Notes Towards the Definition of Culture.

In addition to his pioneering contributions to modern poetry, Eliot made significant contributions to the field of literary criticism, strongly influencing the school of New Criticism. He was somewhat self-deprecating and minimising of his work and once said his criticism was merely a "by-product" of his "private poetry-workshop." Critic William Empson once said, "I do not know for certain how much of my own mind [Eliot] invented, let alone how much of it is a reaction against him or indeed a consequence of misreading him. He is a very penetrating influence, perhaps not unlike the east wind." In an attempt to define the word 'culture', in the present volume Eliot contradicts many popular assumption, reminding readers that culture is not the possession of a class but of a whole society, and yet its preservation may depend on the continuance of a class system.