Yes, Tolkien is Wonderful, but...

[Boromir88]

Boromir, you should read Eliot; he knows exactly what he's talking about.

I have read Eliot; not The Wasteland, but I have read The Hollow Men and parts of The Four Quartets. Both poems drawing allusions to World War I; among other events such as Guy Fawkes' day; the German's bombing of London..etc

Shippey is one of the leading scholars on Tolkien, his early years of teaching overlapped with Tolkien's, and he took over Tolkien's chair as Professor of English Language at Leeds. His analysis regarding Eliot's view post WWI is one worth mentioning. Eliot lacked the first-hand experience of war; leading to Tolkien believing Eliot was 'dead wrong,' and C.S. Lewis saying the work of Eliot was 'a very great evil.'