ABSTRACT
Eliot devoted his energy and attention in the interwar period to the exploration and elucidation of an idea of Europe, and specifically to the question of European unity in diversity. In his role as editor of The Criterion, he oversaw one of the most important discourses on the condition of European culture, the possibilities for its enrichment, and the forces vying for its destruction. This chapter talks about Eastern and Central Europe from the Idea of Europe, though not absolute, is a notable and problematic feature of Eliot's formulations on the subject, early and late. It outlines the parallel development of Eliot's dramatic ideal and his idea of Europe in the years of peace. Eliot uses this classical conception as a kind of physiology to explain the linkages between poetry and local language, including his own practice of poetic drama and its place in British society.
