Rick: You misunderstood. I was not offering those things as criteria for

judging poetry, but as supporting evidence for my contention that Eliot is a

distinctively American taste (I think I actually said “preoccupation”).

The only criterion for judging poetry that I have ever found convincing was

Housman’s: If you say the poem to yourself while shaving, it makes the

bristles stand up. On that criterion, so far as I am concerned, Eliot is no

poet.

Your comments on plagiarism are quite inadequate to answer Bevis Hillier’s

catalog of charges, supposing he is accurate. If he IS accurate, then Eliot

was a deliberate and conscious plagiarizer, and not very honest about it

when confronted with the fact.