The Frontiers of Criticism The Frontiers of Criticism "The Frontiers of Criticism" is a lecture given by T. S. Eliot at the University of Minnesota in 1956. It was reprinted in "On Poetry and Poets", a collection of Eliot's critical essays, in 1957. The essay is an attempt by Eliot to define the boundaries of literary criticism: to say what does, and what does not, constitute truly "literary" criticism, as opposed to, for example, a study in history based upon a work of literature. The essay is significant because it represents Eliot's response to the New Critical perspective which had taken the academic study
T. S. Eliot a character who had appeared in a number of his poems. Although Eliot did not finish the play, he did publish two scenes from the piece. These scenes, titled "Fragment of a Prologue" (1926) and "Fragment of an Agon" (1927), were published together in 1932 as "Sweeney Agonistes". Although Eliot noted that this was not intended to be a one-act play, it is sometimes performed as one. A pageant play by Eliot called "The Rock" was performed in 1934 for the benefit of churches in the Diocese of London. Much of it was a collaborative effort; Eliot accepted credit only