SOURCE: Moorman, Charles. “T. S. Eliot.” In The Grail: A Casebook, edited by Dhira P. Mahoney, pp. 505-23. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000.

In the following essay, Moorman analyses T. S. Eliot's literary and philosophical development, specifically his ideas on the creation of literary myths and use of the Grail legend in his poetry. Moorman contends that Eliot's spiritual viewpoint was central to his writing, and in The Waste Land the legend of the grail assumes a position of vital importance because of its connections with images of religious fertility.

So much has been written about T. S. Eliot's literary and philosophical development that it would seem unnecessary to comment further on these matters. But although critics have made much of Eliot's swing from restless poetic innovation and fierce social and religious criticism to metrical formality and acceptance of a tradition-bound society and church, little has been said...