'Every form of genuine criticism is directed towards creation. The
historical or philosophic critic of poetry is criticising poetry in
order to create a history or a philosophy; the poetic critic is
criticising poetry in order to create poetry.'
These separate and distinct kinds, he considers, are but rarely found
to-day, even in a fragmentary form; where they do exist, they are almost
invariably mingled in an inextricable confusion.
Whether we agree or not with the general condemnation of reviewing
implicit in this survey of the situation, or with the division of
criticism itself, we have every reason to be grateful to Mr Eliot for
disentangling the problem for us. The question of criticism has become
rather like Glaucus the sea-god, encrusted with shells and hung with
weed till his lineaments are hardly discernible. We have at least clear
sight of him now, and we are able to decide whether we will accept Mr
Eliot's description of him. Let us see.
We have no difficulty in agreeing that historical criticism of
literature is a kind apart.
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