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Part of the book series: Macmillan Master Guides ((MAGU))

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Abstract

The impetus towards a modern verse drama grew out of two approaches to the solution of contemporary problems; one was political and the other was religious. Plays with a pre-war political message and Eliot’s Sweeney Agonistes owed much to European expressionism, a movement critical of the existing social order, and more concerned to explore psychological states than to portray life realistically. Eliot’s plays from The Rock onwards and the religious verse-plays by other poets looked more to English forms as models.

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© 1988 Paul Lapworth

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Lapworth, P. (1988). The Modern Verse Movement. In: Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot. Macmillan Master Guides. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07391-7_7

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