Lecture on T.S. Eliot

Jul 21, 2024

Lecture on T.S. Eliot

Introduction

  • Senior English Speech class
  • Focusing on T.S. Eliot, considered the greatest writer/poet of the 20th century
  • 1922 is a crucial year: James Joyce's Ulysses and Eliot's The Waste Land were published

T.S. Eliot's Unique Literary Position

  • Only writer studied in both American Lit (junior year) and British Lit (senior year)
  • Born in St. Louis, educated at Harvard
    • Taught himself Italian and Sanskrit
  • Moved to London, joined a group of American expatriates
    • Influential association with Ezra Pound

Early Works and Reception

  • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
    • Example lines show Eliot's talent and unique style
    • Pound recognized its genius despite not fully understanding it
  • The Waste Land (1922)
    • Considered the most important poem of the 20th century
    • Debated for its difficulty and obscurity

Later Works

  • Four Quartets (written before his death in 1965)
  • Literary criticism and essays
  • Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats inspired the Broadway musical Cats

Modernism and Its Features

  • Definition of Modernism (page 1154):
    1. New objectivity and impersonality
    2. Rejection of realistic descriptions in favor of images
    3. Attention to social conditions and spiritual troubles, often with a sense of displacement and despair
  • Eliot's view of modernity: bleak and critical
  • Comparison with Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach

Analysis of Preludes

  • Poem structure: Sections with Roman numerals
  • Imagery related to the five senses
  • Themes: bleakness, despair, alienation
  • Depicts the mundane, grim aspects of city life
  • Struggle between hope and despair
  • Reflection on the sorrow and hopelessness found in modern urban life

Journey of the Magi

  • Background: tells the story of the Magi visiting Jesus
  • Dramatic monologue from the perspective of one of the Magi
  • Portrays the journey as long, arduous with many challenges
  • Themes of alienation, spiritual agony, and transformation through the journey
  • Questioning the purpose and outcome: birth or death
  • Reflects on life as a journey and the changes it imposes
  • Analogy with personal life journeys, such as high school graduation

Conclusion

  • Eliot's work often deals with complex themes of alienation, despair, and the search for meaning
  • His poetic and critical legacy remains influential in modern literature