Modern Poetry and the Tradition

Brooks makes some interesting readings of poems here. His chapter on Eliot's Waste Land is particularly useful. But as with so much literary criticism, the book could easily have been a chapter- Brooks has a few theses, and proceeds to quote poems which back up his theses. I think we can do better, that we can actually argue about books rather than making huge claims like 'All poetry is symbolist poetry,' then picking our favourite authors to 'prove' this claim, and declaring that anything which isn't, say, symbolist poetry, is weak poetry.
If you say "look, Pope is a great poet, and not symbolist at all," Brooks' response is "Pope's best poetry is symbolist, like this obscure little ditty I found written on a dishcloth." Infuriating.

...but it probably won't sell bc there's a new edition, so.... fitty cents!