T.S. Eliot and the Poetics of Evolution: Sub/Versions of Classicism, Culture, and Progress

Eliot juxtaposed evolution theories and the classical tradition in order to critique civilization, its origins, and its belief in progress. This cultural, feminist study examines how Eliot was trapped between the idea of evolution as a unifying project and the reality of his own and his culture's hierarchical assumptions of gender, religion, race, and class. It explores how this conflict undermined Eliot's mission of unity and influenced his (and Modernism's) place in history.