Letter from T.S. Eliot, London, to E. McKnight Kauffer, 1940 June 11 : typescript signed with initials.

Concerning the last line his poem [Defence of the Islands]; saying "I don't think the last line will do : it is one of those awkward cases in which each word separately is what you want, but they won't all go together. 'Positions' and 'instructions' so close together is disagreeable to the ear. So it must either be / 'we took up our places, in obedience to instructions' or / we took up out positions, in obedience to orders'. / I rather like 'instructions' better than 'orders', because it suggests voluntary cooperation, rather than mere discipline; but on the other hand I prefer 'positions' to 'places', because it has a more precise military sound. So I should like you to try them out on a few people of sufficient sensitivity to words and sounds, and decide this for me; " adding, in a postscript, "I don't know how urgent / this is : I am sending a / copy to John for his opinion. / I can get Herbert Read's view when I see him on Thursday, / and I think his would be valuable.".