Without an understanding of the time period when a poem is developed, we fail to fully appreciate and understand the purpose and messages within such compositions. While the contextual detail of some poems may be fairly simple, the way poets put words together often makes these themes, messages and forms abstract and confusing. A reader must attempt to delve deeper and study the context of society, culture, and that of the writer at the time of composition, or they will interpret and push away composed material as meaningless ‘mumbo-jumbo’ – which is what works by poets like T.S. Eliot strived to avoid.…
This familiarity with the city is developed further in ‘Preludes’. In the third stanza Eliot writes that the sordid images of the night that are revealed constituted the soul. These images that the night reveal would be shadows caused by the world outside, and the use of the word “sordid” makes the reader recall Eliot’s earlier descriptions in the first stanza of “smoky days” and “grimy scraps” and the second stanza’s “faint stale smells of beer” and “sawdust-trampled streets” as these would all constitute a sordid setting of a modern city.” And yet despite this distasteful description of the city Eliot still writes that the soul of the person addresses as “you” in the third stanza is formed by these images of a squalid, degenerate city. The city is a part of this person and this shows that there is a very intense bond between the two. It is as if the failure to make meaningful connections with other people mean that the people in Eliot’s poetry have to turn to the only other presence that they are familiar with in their lives and that is the city that they…
In your response, include analysis of ‘The Hollow Men’ and ONE other Eliot poem you have studied.…
Thorough Analysis of the poem; The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot, by studying the Speaker/Narrator, The Setting, Characters and Themes.…
Firstly, Eliot stigmatizes the mess that dominates society after the Great War and describes the misery and poverty that haunts people’s lives. He portrays an isolated and fragmented world, something that is evident from the “grimy scraps”, drawn from the general sense of the filthiness and untidiness of the landscape. This feeling of fragmentation is also strengthened by the indirect indication of the presence of people in the first stanza, even though this is not ever stated. In addition, society’s deprivation and misery are artistically depicted when Eliot talks about a meaningless and corrupt world that is constantly characterized by a mechanic routine when he uses the verb “revolves”, as well as the phrase “vacant lots”. Furthermore, people’s conduct is identical to the whole sense of misery and bitterness, as they are presented malicious and malevolent, and often prone to “sordid” actions. Under the pretence of helping, they appear to have a clean conscience by day, in order to conceal their dirty deeds happening at night. The society is completely broken and no one really cares…
thus in all likelihood influenced by Eliot, who in “Tradition and the Individual Talent” argues…
S. Eliot” states in EXPLORING Poetry “In 1948 Eliot received both the Nobel Prize for literature and the Order of Merit by King George VI, both honors-- along with his newfound popularity as a dramatist-- augmenting his stature as a celebrated literary figure which he maintained until his death in 1965.” His death shook the world because the idea that a man that conveyed such a pivotal message about the time a person is given and the meaning of life the can get from that time could just not exist anymore was a sad moment. He had a hard life filled with ups and downs, but near the end of his life he was able to relish in his achievements and see his life as a whole and not in fragments like is said in the “Four Quartets” (“T.” Encyclopedia). But this may seem like all his achievements went to his head, they did not, “‘He was above all, a humble man,’ claimed the Times obituary; ‘firm, even stubborn at times, but with no self importance; quite unspoilt by fame; free from spiritual or intellectual pride’” (“T.”…
T.S. Eliot is often regarded as a poetic genius of his time and frequently, to this day as well. He lived a fairly, normal life as he grew up in St. Louis, Missouri then later attended Harvard University. Eventually, he left the United States for Sorbonne, England and returned to Harvard to study some more and ended up back in England where he became under the influence of Ezra Pound. Pound recognized Eliot’s poetic talent and assisted in many of his publications and influenced his work. What stood out to Pound was, perhaps, Eliot’s distinct style of writing created from his intense use of diction and lengthy sentences that often derived from metaphors.…
Eliot was influenced by many authors, philosophers and thinkers, in particular, Ezra Pound in which he not only edited “The Love Song of Allred Pullock” and he pushed for the publication of “The Waste Land’ but he also encouraged Eliot in his choice of career, and what country to live in. Eliot knew the importance of finding an outlet for his art and knew Pound was a good source for contacts and knowledge of London’s literary scene. Eliot was sure that Ezra Pound and London would give him the best chance in allowing him to do what he wanted to do. Ezra Pound was important to Eliot’s poetry and played a pivotal role in Eliot’s life.…
TS Eliot is arguably one of the greatest English poets of the 20th century. His writing style focuses on the human psyche and personal experiences of the personas in the poem derived from his own personal experiences having been affected by WWI. In each of his poems, Eliot uses the theme of human suffering to evoke and portray a bleak and melancholy setting, which acts as the motive behind the strange and peculiar actions that the characters demonstrate. The Poems “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “Rhapsody of a Windy Night” put forward the concept of human suffering, as a result of the isolation, decay and sterility of their environments and situations in which they are confronted with.…
Thomas Stearns “T.S.” Eliot is one of the most inspiring authors in American history. Eliot’s contribution to society was more than words. Eliot’s authorship sits upon a pedestal that will stand the test of time. He is one of the few authors of the 1920s who had the poetic talent that is reflected on to this day. T.S. Eliot’s literature, which greatly impacted the 1920’s, was influenced by his early life, collegiate career, jobs, love life, and authoring career.…
Transforming the conventional ideas, he develops the qualities of both non-conformists and conformists into a more complicated, diverse picture. Presenting this non-conformist voice of rhythm, he establishes both non-conforming and conforming characters. Eliot shows the contradictory argument of both qualities with their conflicting attributes as their true identities are hidden as society shapes the idea of their individual qualities. This is shown as Eliot gives us a sense in which he is a conformist 'My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin ' as he has been apart of the middle class word - 'For I have known them all already…Beneath the music from a farther room '. This conformist side of T.S Eliot is produced prominently in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, demonstrating the idea that he shapes himself into the ideals of society. However in Rhapsody on a. Windy Night he produces a contradictory dynamic of being a conformist when he reveals the characteristics of non-conformity, how he sees the corruption of society 'Twisted like a crooked pin '. While he travels, walking through the streets in his mind at night, seeing the cold, hard, confronting images of suffering and revealing society undergoing change that has turned catastrophic 'So the hand of the child, automatic/Slipped out and pocketed a toy/I could see nothing behind that child 's eye '. Here he reveals…
In 1915 a controversial poem titled “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was released by T.S. Eliot. It is a first person stream of consciousness narrative based on a man at a social gathering who is having some social anxiety. This character is an examination of the tortured psyche of the prototypical modern man; an overeducated, eloquent, neurotic, and emotionally stilted figure. The main character Alfred speaks about his love for the women of the party and talks about them in high regard but he is much too afraid to dare to have lived life. He effectively wrote a poem representing the typical modern man by incorporating the inner thoughts of Alfred as well as many rhetorical devices explaining why he does not feel confident in his ability to interact. Beyond the skin of the poem T.S. Eliot also incorporated elements of what one would presume were his emotions during the time period in his life while writing the poem. He wrote this poem in such a way that effectively portraits how deeply inside humans are all scared of life and are therefore constantly bored of life.…
<br>The most obvious stylistic device used by Eliot is that of personification. She uses this device to create two people from her thoughts on old and new leisure. The fist person is New Leisure, who we can infer to be part of the growth of industry in the 19th century. He is eager and interested in science, politics, and philosophy. He reads exciting novels and leads a hurried life, attempting to do many things at once. Such characteristics help us to create an image of New Leisure as Eliot sees him.…
Eliot shows that ‘life goes on’ regardless of difficulties. One aspect of this can be seen in Eliot’s portrayal of ‘work’, or the working population in a busy and important city. In the poem, work is presented as sterile and meaningless. Eliot shows this through the symbolism of the crowd that “flowed over London Bridge” (line 62):…