T. S. Eliot - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

This critic claimed a poet’s mind is a “receptacle” that stores feeling, phrases, and images to form a new compound in his “Impersonal theory of poetry.” For 10 points each:

[10m] Name this critic who argued that an artist’s progress is a “continual self-sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality.” This critic edited The Criterion and was one of the first directors at Faber & Faber.

ANSWER: T. S. Eliot [or Thomas Stearns Eliot]

[10h] Eliot included his essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent” in this collection. This collection also includes Eliot’s thoughts on literary criticism in essays such as “The Perfect Critic” and “The French Intelligence.”

ANSWER: The Sacred Wood [or The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism]

[10e] In an essay in The Sacred Wood, T. S. Eliot critiques this Shakespeare play for poorly handling the feeling of a son toward a guilty mother and the “unexplained” scenes involving Polonius, Laertes, and Reynaldo.

ANSWER: Hamlet [or The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark] (The essay is “Hamlet and His Problems.”)

<JK, British Literature>

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Canada	Main Site	Y	7	15.71	100%	43%	14%
Florida	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	16.00	100%	40%	20%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	7	12.86	100%	0%	29%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	4	20.00	100%	50%	50%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	6	8.33	83%	0%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	8	11.25	88%	25%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	6	16.67	100%	33%	33%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	2	20.00	100%	50%	50%

Data


Stanford B	Berkeley A	0	0	10	10
Berkeley B	Berkeley C	0	0	10	10
Stanford A	Berkeley D	0	0	10	10
McGill A	Brock	0	0	10	10
Waterloo B	McGill B	0	0	10	10
Ottawa	McMaster B	10	0	10	20
Queen's	Toronto Metropolitan	0	0	10	10
Toronto B	Toronto E	10	10	10	30
UBC B	Toronto C	10	0	10	20
Central Florida A	Central Florida B	0	0	10	10
Carleton University	Toronto G	0	0	10	10
CWRU A	Ohio State A	10	0	10	20
Michigan A	CWRU B	10	10	10	30
Michigan B	Ohio State B	0	0	10	10
Michigan C	Michigan State	0	0	10	10
Ohio State C	Pittsburgh	0	0	10	10
Chicago A	Purdue B	0	0	10	10
Purdue A	Chicago B	0	0	10	10
Chicago C	Northwestern B	0	0	10	10
Illinois A	Chicago D	0	10	10	20
Indiana A	Northwestern C	0	10	10	20
Notre Dame A	Indiana B	0	0	10	10
Illinois B	Illinois C	0	0	10	10
Harvard B	Brown	0	0	10	10
Harvard A	Dartmouth B	0	0	10	10
MIT	Southern Connecticut State	10	10	10	30
Yale	Brandeis A	10	10	10	30
Georgia Tech A	Claremont	0	0	10	10
Missouri A	Carleton College	0	0	10	10
Washington A	Missouri B	0	0	10	10
Texas A	Murray State A	0	0	10	10
Texas B	Texas A&M A	0	0	10	10
Georgia Tech B	Alabama A	0	0	10	10
Georgia Tech D	Bruin	0	0	10	10
Georgia Tech C	Alabama B	0	0	10	10
Mississipi State	Tennessee B	0	0	0	0
WashU A	Tennessee A	0	0	10	10
Kentucky	Vanderbilt B	0	0	10	10
Oxford A	Bristol	0	0	10	10
Imperial A	Durham	0	0	10	10
Oxford C	Edinburgh A	0	0	0	0
Manchester	Montpellier	0	0	10	10
Cambridge B	UCL	0	0	10	10
Warwick A	Birmingham	10	0	10	20
Cambridge A	Warwick B	10	0	10	20
Columbia A	Vassar	0	10	10	20
Maryland B	John Jay	10	0	10	20
Johns Hopkins A	Columbia B	0	0	10	10
Columbia C	Maryland A	0	0	10	10
NYU A	Johns Hopkins B	10	10	10	30
Swarthmore	NYU C	0	0	10	10
RIT	Cornell B	10	0	10	20
Penn State	Rochester	0	10	10	20
Southampton A	Cardiff	0	0	10	10