This book offers a comprehensive study of Eliot’s philosophical writings and attempts to assess their impact on both his early poetry and his literary criticism. Rafey Habib attempts to unravel the complex notions of irony underlying Eliot’s poetry, arguing that these originate in his philosophical thinking and achieve persistent expression in his early aesthetics. This book offers close readings of Eliot’s major poems and critical essays, shedding valuable light on his views on language, tradition, impersonality and emotion, and situating these in a broad aesthetic and philosophical context.