Critical Praise for Eliot Possessed

 ". . . [ P]erfectly fascinating and entirely plausible." 

"Modernist literary studies ignored for many decades FitzGerald's marvelous Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and it is all the more fascinating to read in Professor D'Ambrosio's lively and learned study of how that great Victorian poem continued to influence T. S. Eliot throughout his work. Aside from its value in reminding us of FitzGerald's importance, this book makes a major contribution to the study of Modernist poetry." 

"D'Ambrosio unravels Eliot's 'long struggle' against the charm of FitzGerald: 'his first intense acceptance . . ., his enduring conflict with the poet and the poem, and at last his release from them.' That struggle is made believable, important, and even exciting. . . .fascinating . . . .relevant. D'Ambrosio's learning as much as her sophistication avoids all the traces of a standard study in 'influence.'" 

"Astonishing, carefully structured study. . . .Reading Eliot in the way poets read other poets, she brings amazing richness and depth to her interpretations. . . . Surprising, original, graceful, full of poetic insight and scholarly rigor. . . thorough and wide-ranging." 

"Abundant, fascinating documentation. . . very literate work. . . ..This study. . . .. displays the durable strength of serious scholarship." 

"Scholarly, temperate, and lucid....  That the author is herself a poet has no doubt sharpened her perception of the creative process, mysterious and complex as that is."