Bergonzi offers a comprehensive overview of Eliot’s life, beginning with his earliest American ancestor, which centers around his central thesis concerning Eliot: “literature must be read synchronically, with past and present coexisting and mutually interacting” (2). He examines Eliot’s earliest work, eventually working up to the later writings such as the Four Quartets and Murder in the Cathedral. Bergonzi subjects each of Eliot’s works to both the present and the past, offering insight into the influences of contemporary ideas and traditional ideas upon Eliot. Focusing specifically on the Four Quartets, he examines the effects of both time past and time present on the final version of the poem. Like The Love Song of J. Alfred …show more content…
The interconnectedness of the past and present features in both the narrative and meta-narrative of the Four Quartets. According to Bergonzi, “To some extent, Four Quartets mimes one of its major themes: the tension between time, which is sad and hate and mostly unredeemable, and eternity” (166). The interaction between the meaningless present and the meaningful eternity features heavily throughout all of Eliot’s works, especially the Four Quartets. Bergonzi further explores the interactions between time and eternity through Eliot’s allusions to Dante, Yeats, and Augustine. Bergonzi pays special attention to Eliot’s age during the writing of the Four Quartets, during which Eliot struggled to adapt himself to writing as a middle aged man, and accepting his changing view of the world. Ultimately, Bergonzi concludes that while the interaction between time and eternity dominates the themes of the Four Quartets, “time is, of course, the villain” …show more content…
She gives an in depth look at Eliot’s life through two major lenses: his history and present, and the modern present. Examining Eliot’s upbringing, ancestry, and natural disposition, Gordon argues that despite his obvious human shortcomings, Eliot’s poetry strove at something higher, something unbounded by time and its criticisms. Thus, his critics recognize his faults, but do not throw out the entirety of his works. Focusing specifically on the Four Quartets, Gordon examines the effects of Eliot’s first marriage on his views of love and time. She recognizes that for Eliot, “the highest good was a combination of the greatest intellectual activity and the greatest receptivity to the divine around us” (31). Thus, he felt a distinct tension between his imperfect love for his wife, and hers for him, and his diminished receptivity to the divine before his conversion to Anglicanism. However, following their separation and Vivienne’s break down, Eliot found himself opening up again both to love and to the divine. Out of this tension, eventually came Burnt Norton. Here, Eliot sums up his new conclusion, “it was impossible, for the time being, to recover the actuality of love. Though it was the essential matter of the past that must shape the future” (313). From this struggle,
Thus they explained that true love was difficult to bear and comprehend, but in tru...
Paris, Bernard J. Experiments in Life: George Eliot's Quest for Values. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1965.
Cheever, John. ?The Five-Forty-Eight.? Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. 550-561.
"'You have not made my life pleasant to me of late'-'the hardships which our marriage has brought on me'-these words were stinging his imagination as a pain makes an exaggerated dream (667)."
This passage marks the first of several types of love, and gives us an intuitive
The recurring sensory images that Eliot uses appeal to the reader’s fear of the loss
“In any relationship, there will be frightening spells in which your feelings of love dry up. And when that happens you must remember that the essence of marriage is that it is a covenant, a commitment, a promise of future love. So what do you do? You do the acts of love, despite your lack of feeling. You may not feel tender, sympathetic, and eager to please, but in your actions you must BE tender, understanding, forgiving and helpful. And, if you do that, as time goes on you will not only get through the dry spells, but they will become less frequent and deep, and you will become more constant in your feelings. This is what can happen if you decide to love.”
...s, Colleen. The love song of T.S. Eliot: elegiac homoeroticism in the early poetry. Gender, Desire, and Sexuality in T. S. Eliot. Ed. Cassandra Laity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. p. 20
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tells the speaker’s story through several literary devices, allowing the reader to analyze the poem through symbolism, character qualities, and allusions that the work displays. In this way, the reader clearly sees the hopelessness and apathy that the speaker has towards his future. John Steven Childs sums it up well in saying Prufrock’s “chronic indecision blocks him from some important action” (Childs). Each literary device- symbolism, character, and allusion- supports this description. Ultimately, the premise of the poem is Prufrock second guessing himself to no end over talking to a woman, but this issue represents all forms of insecurity and inactivity.
Both Browning and Eliot seek to improve upon the nature of the dramatic monologue. Browning emphasizes structure and a separation between the poet and the character which is reiterated by Eliot’s poem. Browning’s influence on Eliot can be seen by the form and structure of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” adding working intrinsically with the theme and subject of the work. However, Eliot deviates slightly from Browning by the portrayal of his characters, and the amount of information that he is willing to share with the reader. The intended message of Browning’s poem is much more apparent than Eliot’s who creates an open ended poem that can be interpreted differently by each reader.
people want to continue to read the poem a few more times. His was of
She tells him about headach. she says, and "Stay with me." She likewise asks the man what he is considering, "think" a few times in both inquiry and and asking the question,with an one−word sentence, "Think." Eliot is attempting to get his audience to consider the modern day, which is obviously shown by his numerous word of "think" and the way that he sets it off all alone. which is illustrative of anxious separate of a present day ( modern) women.her aimless, erratic routeen speak to the fruitless existence of a current women.she needs to take after the dull ruteen, high temp water shower in the
T.S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral is well a respected drama composed of the life elements of faith, revenge, and the never-ending struggle for power. Two men, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett, and King Henry II of England, display this ostentatious struggle for power. This dispute over ruling authority between the Church and the state is indicative of a main theme in Murder in the Cathedra, man versus god. Thomas Beckett serves as the representation of the power of God whereas King Henry II and his advisors serve as the governmental representations, or the power of man. The theme to Eliot's drama is greatly supported by the enhancements of imagery, light and dark as well as sensory, by the usage of metaphors, and by his syntax. Together the elements vividly represent the struggle between the two powers that is occurring within the play.
Did you know that with all the major changes that were happening in the world during the 20th century that some of the biggest changes that were happening were in the theatrical productions? Murder in the Cathedral was written during the the 20th century, a very important time period in which many things changed in the theatre and many important wars occurred.
a more personal level. However, it is only one's past, present and the attitude with which he or she looks upon the future that determines the shade of light in which the poem will be seen. (pg 621)