QuotesCosmos
T. S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920), p. 66
“

[W]e need a number of educated poets who shall at least have opinions about Greek drama, and whether it is or is not of any use to us. And it must be said that Professor Gilbert Murray is not the man for this. Greek poetry will never have the slightest vitalizing effect upon English poetry if it can only appear masquerading as a vulgar debasement of the eminently personal idiom of Swinburne. These are strong words to use against the most popular Hellenist of his time; but we must witness of Professor Murray ere we die that these things are not otherwise but thus.

— T. S. Eliot

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[W]e need a number of educated poets who shall at least have opinions about Greek drama, and whether it is or is not of any use to us. And it must be said that Professor Gilbert Murray is not the man for this. Greek poetry will never have the slightest vitalizing effect upon English poetry if it can only appear masquerading as a vulgar debasement of the eminently personal idiom of Swinburne. These are strong words to use against the most popular Hellenist of his time; but we must witness of Professor Murray ere we die that these things are not otherwise but thus." in the context of "T. S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920), p. 66" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Gilbert Murray" (Quotes about Gilbert Murray) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Gilbert Murray#professor#murray#poetry#greek#masquerading#vitalizing#debasement#slightest#eminently#swinburne#hellenist
Gilbert Murray

About Gilbert Murray

George Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM, FBA (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century. He is the basis for the character of Adolphus Cusins in his friend George Bernard Shaw's play Major Barbara, and also appears as the chorus figure in Tony Harrison's play Fram.