This study investigates how the dual concepts of the primitive and the metropolitan shaped the thematic development and creative output of T. S. Eliot. Robert Crawford, a scholar of modern literature, utilizes archival research and close readings of Eliot's poetry and prose to argue that these opposing forces were not merely incidental but central to the poet's artistic evolution. By situating Eliot within the intellectual climate of his time, the book demonstrates how the tension between the "savage" and the sophisticated city dweller informed the construction of his most significant texts.

Scholars frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the intellectual origins of Eliot's modernist aesthetic. The prose is noted for its academic rigor and its ability to synthesize complex cultural history with specific textual analysis.