M.A. English Lit. Final Second paper Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and one of the twentieth centurys major poets.[1] He was born in St. Louis, Missouri to an old Yankee family. However he emigrated to England in 1914 (at age 25) and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39. Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930) and Four Quartets (1945).[2] He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.[3][4] Poetry For a poet of his stature, Eliot produced a relatively small number of poems. He was aware of this even early in his career. He wrote to J.H. Woods, one of his former Harvard professors, My reputation in London is built upon one small volume of verse, and is kept up by printing two or three more poems in a year. The only thing that matters is that these should be perfect in their kind, so that each should be an event.[45] Typically, Eliot first published his poems individually in periodicals or in small books or pamphlets, and then collected them in books. His first collection was Prufrock and Other Observations (1917). In 1920, he published more poems in Ara Vos Prec (London) and Poems: 1920 (New York). These had the same poems (in a different order) except that Ode in the British edition was replaced with Hysteria in the American edition. In 1925, he collected The Waste Land and the poems in Prufrock and Poems into one volume and added The Hollow Men to form Poems: 1909–1925. From then on, he updated this work as Collected Poems. Exceptions are Old Possums Book of Practical Cats (1939), a collection of light verse; Poems Written in Early Youth, posthumously published in 1967 and consisting mainly of poems published between 1907 and 1910 in The Harvard Advocate, and Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909–1917, material Eliot never intended to have published, which appeared posthumously in 1997.[46] During an interview in 1959, Eliot said of his nationality and its role in his work: Id say that my poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England. That Im sure of. ... It wouldnt be what it is, and I imagine it wouldnt be so good; putting it as modestly as I can, it wouldnt be what it is if Id been born in England, and it wouldnt be what it is if Id stayed in America. Its a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America.[47] It must also be acknowledged, as Chinmoy Guha showed in his book Where the Dreams Cross: T S Eliot and French Poetry (Macmillan, 2011), that he was deeply influenced by French poets from Baudelaire to Paul Valéry. He himself wrote in his 1940 essay on W.B. Yeats: The kind of poetry that I needed to teach me the use of my own voice did not exist in English at all; it was only to be found in French. (On Poetry and Poets, 1948)The writer Ronald Bush notes that Eliots early poems like The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Portrait of a Lady, La Figlia Che Piange, Preludes, and Rhapsody on a Windy Night had [an] effect [that] was both unique and compelling, and their assurance staggered [Eliots] contemporaries who were privileged to read them in manuscript. [Conrad] Aiken, for example, marveled at how sharp and complete and sui generis the whole thing was, from the outset. The wholeness is there, from the very beginning.[68] The initial critical response to Eliots The Waste Land was mixed. Ronald Bush notes that The Waste Land was at first correctly perceived as a work of jazz-like syncopation—and, like 1920s jazz, essentially iconoclastic.[68] Some critics, like Edmund Wilson, Conrad Aiken, and Gilbert Seldes thought it was the best poetry being written in the English language while others thought it was esoteric and wilfully difficult. Edmund Wilson, being one of the critics who praised Eliot, called him one of our only authentic poets.[69] Wilson also pointed out some of Eliots weaknesses as a poet. In regard to The Waste Land, Wilson admits its flaws (its lack of structural unity), but concluded, I doubt whether there is a single other poem of equal length by a contemporary American which displays so high and so varied a mastery of English verse.[69] Charles Powell was negative in his criticism of Eliot, calling his poems incomprehensible.[70] And the writers of Time magazine were similarly baffled by a challenging poem like The Waste Land.[71] John Crowe Ransom wrote negative criticisms of Eliots work but also had positive things to say. For instance, though Ransom negatively criticised The Waste Land for its extreme disconnection, Ransom was not completely condemnatory of Eliots work and admitted that Eliot was a talented poet.[72] Addressing some of the common criticisms directed against The Waste Land at the time, Gilbert Seldes stated, It seems at first sight remarkably disconnected and confused... [however] a closer view of the poem does more than illuminate the difficulties; it reveals the hidden form of the work, [and] indicates how each thing falls into place.[73] Following the publication of The Four Quartets, Eliots reputation as a poet, as well as his influence in the academy, was at its peak. In an essay on Eliot published in 1989, the writer Cynthia Ozick refers to this peak of influence (from the 1940s through the early 1960s) as the Age of Eliot when Eliot seemed pure zenith, a colossus, nothing less than a permanent luminary, fixed in the firmament like the sun and the moon.[74] But during this post-war period, others, like Ronald Bush, observed that this time also marked the beginning of the decline in Eliots literary influence: As Eliots conservative religious and political convictions began to seem less congenial in the postwar world, other readers reacted with suspicion to his assertions of authority, obvious in Four Quartets and implicit in the earlier poetry. The result, fueled by intermittent rediscovery of Eliots occasional anti-Semitic rhetoric, has been a progressive downward revision of his once towering reputation.[68] Bush also notes that Eliots reputation slipped significantly further after his death. He writes, Sometimes regarded as too academic (William Carlos Williamss view), Eliot was also frequently criticized for a deadening neoclassicism (as he himself—perhaps just as unfairly—had criticized Milton). However, the multifarious tributes from practicing poets of many schools published during his centenary in 1988 was a strong indication of the intimidating continued presence of his poetic voice.[68] Although Eliots poetry is not as influential as it once was, notable literary scholars, like Harold Bloom[75] and Stephen Greenblatt,[76] still acknowledge that Eliots poetry is central to the literary English canon. For instance, the editors of The Norton Anthology of English Literature write, There is no disagreement on [Eliots] importance as one of the great renovators of the English poetry dialect, whose influence on a whole generation of poets, critics, and intellectuals generally was enormous. [However] his range as a poet [was] limited, and his interest in the great middle ground of human experience (as distinct from the extremes of saint and sinner) [was] deficient. Despite this criticism, these scholars also acknowledge [Eliots] poetic cunning, his fine craftsmanship, his original accent, his historical and representative importance as the poet of the modern symbolist-Metaphysical tradition.[77] Allegations of anti-Semitism[edit] The depiction of Jews in some of Eliots poems has led several critics to accuse him of anti-Semitism. This case has been presented most forcefully in a study by Anthony Julius: T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form (1996).[78][79] In Gerontion, Eliot writes, in the voice of the poems elderly narrator, And the jew squats on the window sill, the owner [of my building] / Spawned in some estaminet of Antwerp.[80] Another well-known example appears in the poem, Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar. In this poem, Eliot wrote, The rats are underneath the piles. / The jew is underneath the lot. / Money in furs.[81] Interpreting the line as an indirect comparison of Jews to rats, Julius writes, The anti-Semitism is unmistakable. It reaches out like a clear signal to the reader. Juliuss viewpoint has been supported by literary critics such as Harold Bloom,[82] Christopher Ricks,[83] George Steiner,[83] Tom Paulin[84] and James Fenton.[83] In a series of lectures delivered at the University of Virginia in 1933, published under the title After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (1934), Eliot wrote of societal tradition and coherence, What is still more important [than cultural homogeneity] is unity of religious background, and reasons of race and religion combine to make any large number of free-thinking Jews undesirable.[85] Eliot never re-published this book/lecture.[83] Craig Raine, in his books In Defence of T. S. Eliot (2001) and T. S. Eliot (2006), sought to defend Eliot from the charge of anti-Semitism. Reviewing the 2006 book, Paul Dean stated that he was not convinced by Raines argument. Nevertheless, he concluded, Ultimately, as both Raine and, to do him justice, Julius insist, however much Eliot may have been compromised as a person, as we all are in our several ways, his greatness as a poet remains.[83] In another review of Raines 2006 book, the literary critic Terry Eagleton also questioned the validity of Raines defence of Eliots character flaws as well as the entire basis for Raines book, writing, Why do critics feel a need to defend the authors they write on, like doting parents deaf to all criticism of their obnoxious children? Eliots well-earned reputation [as a poet] is established beyond all doubt, and making him out to be as unflawed as the Archangel Gabriel does him no favours.[86] Influence[edit] Eliots influence extended beyond the English language. His work, in particular The Waste Land but also The Hollow Men and Ash Wednesday strongly influenced the poetry of two of the most significant post-War Irish language poets, Seán Ó Ríordáin and Máirtín Ó Díreáin as well as The Weekend of Dermot and Grace (1964) by Eoghan O Tuairisc.[87] Eliot additionally influenced, among many others, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Allen Tate, Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, Seamus Heaney, Russell Kirk,[88] and James Joyce[dubious – discuss] .[89]
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