The essayist opens his work with a statement, affirming the English language richness for poetry. In the 2^nd paragraph he qualifies his statement and he gives a clarification too, writing that what he has just claimed doesn't mean that England has produced the greatest poets or amount of poetry, but only that it is the richest language for poetry because of its largest vocabulary. He supports his thesis with several examples; he considers the language richness made of elements variety as the Germanic Foundation, the Scandinavian element, the Norman French element, a succession of French influences, a new words coined from Latin increase and the Celtic element. The English language is also rich in its rhythmic variety because of his Saxon verses, the Norman French and the Welsh rhythm and because of the Latin and Greek poetry study ( 3^rd paragraph).

In the 4^th paragraph the author gives two restatements about what he has just written and in the following paragraph he discusses a sort of general thought that wanted the greatest people to excel in one art, like Italy and France in painting, Germany in music and England in poetry. But T.S.Eliot refuses this general truth and he supports his idea with 2 examples ( lines 52-68) .

In the 5^th paragraph he underlines again that a Nation excelling in a particular art form in a certain period does not necessarily produce the greatest artist; the example he take to prove this statement is the figure of Goethe ( lines 68-76).

He ends with two reflections about the theme treated :

•a)   A) No European nation would accomplished what it has if other countries had not developed the same art forms

 

•b)   B) European literature could renew itself only if it is able to receive and assimilate influences and, by the other side, if is is able to learn from its own sources.