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.
Copyright information
© 1988 Paul Lapworth
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-07391-7_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-37205-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-07391-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)