In this study, first published in 1983, Professor Smith makes the argument that although
The Waste Land
is analogous in form to a musical composition that it is actually made of its literary echoes. He calls these a ‘music of allusions’ and shows the resemblance of this music in its evocativeness to the technique of Mallarmé and the French symbolists. Smith also comments extensively on Eliot’s critical theories as they bear on
and traces the development of Eliot’s allusive and transformational poetic form from its genesis in early work. This title will be of interest to students of literature.