This is an essay written by T.S. Elliot as one of a series of talks broadcast to Germany after World War II. At the beginning of the essay T.S. Elliot pones his thesis that is: English language is the richest for the purposes of poetry.
After this the writer qualifies his statement to make the reader clearly understand his thesis telling the reader that he does not mean that England has not produced the greatest poets, but English has the largest vocabulary to write poetry. Going on the writer states that the richness of English language is due to the variety of elements of which it is made up. To support his thesis T.S. Elliot provides examples about the basis of English language such as

• the Danish,
• the Scandinavian foundation,
• the German foundation,
• the Norman French ,
• Latin,
• Celtic.

After that T.S. Elliot makes a further clarification telling the reader that he is not only thinking of the words but primarily of the rhythms. As a matter of fact English is rich in rhythmic variety because of the variety of its foundation, as example:

• The early Saxon verse,
• The welsh,
• The influence of Greek and Latin.

Moving on the writer propose another statement to discuss that is: English is a good language for poetry because it is derived from so many linguistic sources, after this he underlines that England has not produced the greatest poets, saying this T.S. Elliot wants not to be misunderstood.
Going on the writer pones a statement: it is generally thought that the greatest people in one art, for example:

• Italy and France in painting;
• Germany in music;
• England in poetry.

But moving on T.S. Elliot refuses this thesis, as a matter he thinks that:

• No art has ever been the exclusive possession of a state;
• In some periods other countries had taken the lead of poetry.

And in order to support his point of view bring some examples:

• In the second half of nineteen century in France many poets developed.

Moving on the writer makes a further refutation that is: a nation which leads in a particular art form in a period does not necessary produce the greatest artists. To persuade his audience T.S. Elliot provides qualitative examples. To conclude he pones two statements:

• No European nation would have accomplished what it has, as far as culture is concerned if other countries had not developed the same form of art;
• The ability of literature to renew depends on:
     o Assimilate influences;
     o Go back and learn from the past.