T.S. Eliot as a Modernist Poet.

T.S. Eliot was a famous Modernist poet, critic and a dramatist. He is famous for his essay “Tradition and Individual Talent” and his famous poem “The Wasteland”. He was awarded for Nobel Prize in 1948 for his poem “The Wasteland”. He had influenced many poets of the contemporary and he can be considered as a classicist in his approach of writing a poetry.

He treated his poems with the element of free verse and fragmented ideas. It is to replicate and translate the social reality perceive by one’s consciousness. “The Wasteland” is a poem of fragmented imagery and language. The free verse in the poem depicts the modern reality and the irregularity of the language shows the hesitation , fear and inner feelings of a modern man. The language itself in the poem throws insight into the layer of meanings of the poem and the modern predicament. The repetitive lines or the refrains suggest the inner reality of modern society and reflects on the lost moral ethics and humanity.

The another aspect of his writing is the allusion. Allusion are references to the past or knowledge of the past. The allusion has many functions but it makes the poetry objective. The allusions are the combination of poet’s knowledge of the past and his own personal experiences which are amalgamated to shroud a new type of emotion different to poet’s own emotions. “The Wasteland” has many allusion to the past poets and their works. The references to Virgil “Aeneid” shows the sexuality and the condition of a woman in contrast to the women status in the modern society. The allusion to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” suggest the themes of death. It could be in parallel comparison to the death of modern society. The allusion to Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” also suggests the condition of a woman in the poem as well as the references to Shakespeare “Anthony and Cleopatra”. These allusions serve as an important objective role to show the modern predicament and the excessive desires or the passionate intensity the society has developed due to the impact of World War I.

Eliot heavy use of symbols in the poem. Symbols are used to bridge the emotions when words fail to express those felt emotions. Modernist poetry are filled with many symbols and images that are taken from reality but it becomes impersonal. The symbol of “water” in “The Wasteland” suggests life or rebirth. The symbol of “fire” suggests inner excessive desires. The “heap of broken images” implies the devastation caused by the War or suggests the fragmented reality of human consciousness. The “Jug” is a symbol of sexuality or the opprobrious language related to sex. The “Carthage” and image of “burning” is the allusion to St. Augustine which symbolizes the inner excessive desires of human mind. The “Death by water” is a symbol of purification and salvation. One can survive the modern predicament when one learn to control over their senses like the Bhuddha and hence “Death by water” symbolizes a solution to modern society and a regeneration

Eliot poetry is also influenced by Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. It believed in the flow of motion perceived differently in different positions. In art, it is translated into variety of the flow of perceptions. It gave a unique style of multiple voices in the poem where different opinions flow in the poem echoing the different experiences of the same experience. “The Wasteland” is filled with many multiple voices where the unknown speakers comes and speaks their own experiences of the same experience. They mention the images of the landscape of society which is opposite to the real world as the summer seems to be cruel for them. It contradicted Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tale’s ” pilgrimage where April seems to be good for pilgrimage but April “is the cruelest month of the year”. It surprised them with “a shower of rain”. It could symbolizes the political and social distress. The another speaker mentions the image of “frightened”, “dead tree” , “dry stone” and “no sound of water”. These images reflects the modern complexity where the society is dead and there are no water or life. The flow of the multiple voices showed the different experiences of the same experience of the modern society.

Modernist poetry is influenced by Henry Bergson’s philosophy of time. He believed that time exists in two separate ways. There is the existence of inner time and outer time. The inner time is the time that exist in human mind where one can follow along with the progression of time or go back to the past memories and experiences. The outer time is the linear state of progression and the physical time that exists in a concrete object. “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufock ” shows in the opening line “Let us go then, you and I” reflects the influences of the Bergson’s philosophy of time where “you’ and “I” suggests the flow of inner time and outer time of human mind.

Lastly,Eliot developed the concept of self. He was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s Psychonanalysis and depicts the human self. The human self is divided into two and shows the inner self and outer self. The inner self is the self hidden inside the individual and the outer self is the self which an individual shows it to the world. “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufock” shows the development of self in the lines “There will be time, there will be time /To prepare a face to meet the other faces you meet”. The lines suggest the idea of self where the “face” represent the creation of outer self and hides the inner self and Prufock states that an individual prepares a “face” or outer self for others and hide their inner self.