Eliot's criticism was stimulated by some of the course-work he did for evening classes in London, even more by studious application in the continual reviewing of books from 1916 to 1919. The first of his collected essays, "Reflections on Vers Libre", appeared in The New Statesman of 3 March 1917. In it he states categorically that vers libre does not exist, and ridicules the notion that there is such a school of poetry. This kind of claim arises when society is 'sluggish", when tradition lapses, novelty is in demand, and theorizers attempt to make much of little art. After identifying vers libre with Imagism, he considers its form with reference to pattern, rhyme, and metre, devoting most attention to the latter. He does not consider rhythm, but remains at a rather elementary prosodic level,³⁷ and reaches the obvious conclusion that vitality in verse is incompatible with metrical monotony. He is all for making the most of rhymeless verse, because rhyme-addiction has "thickened the modern ear".