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Two of the most memorable verse lines in "East Coker" are: "The only wisdom we can hope to acquire / Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless." They belong to the second section, which opens with images of seasonal turmoil and astronomical warfare, criticised in the following stanza: "That was a way of putting it - not very satisfactory." The poet cannot evade "the intolerable wrestle / with words and meanings" - we find comparable passages at other points of Four Quartets.When Eliot published the second of his Quartets (1940), he was also "wrestling" with dramatic verse, plot and structure. As David Chinitz puts it, he was "retraining himself as a playwright" [*]. Despite Eliot's unquestioned reputation as a poet and critic, he learned to become a dramatist in a spirit of humility. His attitude is reflected in the notes of acknowledgement included in the first editions of his plays, and in his essay "Poetry and Drama" (1951).In a "Prefatory Note," Eliot presents The Rock (1934) as follows: "I cannot consider myself the author of the 'play,' but only of the words printed here." He also explains that the Rev. Vincent Howson, who took part in the performance, "has so completely rewritten, amplified and condensed the dialogue [of his part] . . . that he deserves the title of joint author." These observations evidence that Eliot thought of his task as contributing to a collaborative project.In each of his notes, Eliot expresses his gratitude to E. Martin Browne - the director of all the original productions - whose suggestions were incorporated to the definitive text of the plays. Eliot admits that he "rewrote" The Rock for publication, being "submissive" to Browne's "expert criticism." John Hayward, one of Eliot's closest friends, is also thanked for his critical reading of drafts. When he published The Cocktail Party (1949), Eliot acknowledged his "debt to both these censors," Hayward and Browne.The Cocktail Party was a commercial success in the West End and Broadway. It received a Tony Award for Best Play, and there was even a project for a film adaptation. Yet, in referring to his first comedy in "Poetry and Drama," three years after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, Eliot declares: "I have not yet got to the end of my investigation of the weaknesses of this play." In the same essay, when he traces the process of composition of Murder in the Cathedral (1935), he refers to himself as "a beginner," and when he considers The Family Reunion (1939), he finds it "defective" in different aspects. In writing, presenting and assessing his plays, Eliot did show "the wisdom of humility," which, needless to say, not all successful writers acquire.[*] David E. Chinitz, "A Vast Wasteland? Eliot and Popular Culture." A Companion to T. S. Eliot, edited by David E. Chinitz, Blackwell, 2014, p. 68 (pp. 66-78).