Analysis of Essay by T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot (2) stated that "art, as Goethe said, is in limitation: and a great poet is one who makes the most of the language that is given him." What Eliot (2-3) further argues is that "the truly great poet makes his language a great language." Throughout his essay, Eliot (1) argues first, that his own language, English, is "the richest for the purposes of writing poetry," but affirms that while he believes that English 'is the most remarkable medium for the poet to play with," other languages have also produced great poets who follow Goethe's suggestion by making the most of the language they are given. In other words, as this analysis will demonstrate, language may limit what a poet can and cannot do, but it is the ability of the poet to capitalize upon language itself that accounts for poetic greatness.

Others also support the ideas expressed above. Obakanse Lakanse (1), a teacher of English literature in Lagos, Nigeria, has argued that poets in his country who write in various Nigerian languages are working or perpetuate the greatness of those languages. This analy