Analysis of T. S. Eliot's East Coker Essay examples

In order to understand T.S. Eliot’s poem, Choruses from “The Rock,” one must first understand Eliot’s views on contemporary theology and spirituality. He felt as if people were moving away from the Church and were losing their religion in favor of more secular worship. The following passage from Eliot’s poem can summarize his entire argument that he makes in Choruses from “The Rock”.

Additionally, Prufrock is surrounded by a scene where impermanence reigns, where “women come and go talking of Michelangelo” and people seem less than eager to understand that time is of the essence. Prufrock longs to repeatedly convince himself that “there will be time” for anything he wishes to do, be it “murder and create” or “prepare a face to meet the faces that [he will] meet” (Eliot 27-28). However, he understands the precariousness of time, namely that it is a precious, finite resource that does not allow for an infinite number of modifications to one’s own life. A “hundred…revisions” to Prufrock’s lifestyle would not really matter if all of these are delicate enough such that “a minute will reverse” them anyway (Eliot 33, 48). Prufrock understands the grim underlying reality that there is not much time after all and implies this society in which he lives is drenched in its “empty fullness of its life” (Schneider 1104). In fact, the promise of time is a false consolation here, a “pathological insistence” by Prufrock to scrape up the seconds as they quickly fall through his fingers (Cahill 8).

T.S Eliot wrote his poems in the modernist manner and was one of twentieth century major poets. His famous works indicate the distortion of human society and also on the individual level and are critically acclaimed over the world. This essay will discuss the comparison of the theme of human society as a waste land in two of Eliot’s famous works, ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ and ‘Preludes’. Although both the poem discusses the theme of human society as a waste land, the way in which Eliot portrays the theme differs in the poems. ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ subtly implies the ideas of the aftermath of World War I and uses a single point of view that of Prufrock’s to indicate human society as a waste land. However, in ‘Preludes’

When discussing the greatest poetic minds to ever put their genius to use, it is nearly impossible to not mention Thomas Stearns Eliot. Eliot used his works to develop and display his emotions and his morals by writing complex themes and descriptive scenes that are all based on simple situations that either Eliot himself had lived through, or that someone he knew closely had. By doing so, Eliot was able to convey some of the core human emotions well enough to leave the reader unsure on how he or she feels about the topic themselves. Often times, the only way to express emotion, was through his works. The analysis of the life, and the writings of Thomas Stearns Eliot reveal the possible influences in his works, and the facts behind what led

T.S Eliot was the most famous English poet of his time, and he was one of the most influential poet. His distinctive style of writing took the attention of not only other poets, but many people all over the world. “Thomas Stearns Eliot is best known as a poet and literary critic (he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948), but his work in social and cultural theory has also been widely influential”(Edwards). T.S. Eliot's style of writing was mostly a pessimistic view on life. One of the best examples of his pessimistic view on life comes from his work The Hollow Men. The Hollow Men is a short part of the title The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The Hollow

In the poems “The Love Song by J. Alfred Prufrock,” written in 1910, published in 1915, and “Rhapsody on a Windy Night,” written in 1917, both of which were written by poet and literary-critic T. S. Eliot, the symbolism and imagery of the women represented in mythological means, the locations and landscapes that both protagonists wander through or plan on going to, and the nature that is used in both poems are very similar, yet uniquely different. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is about a man with low self-confidence worrying about going to a party in the evening where he is sure that the women there with reject and ridicule him; “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” is about a man wandering his way back in the early hours of the morning

T.S. Eliot was one among few poets and authors that dominated the years between the First and Second World Wars. Eliot showed his use of modernism techniques through “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, creating a powerful reputation around the world, particularly as a member of The Lost Generation in the 1920s. Eliot moved to and settled in London where he worked with famous poets including Ezra Pound, and published his first collection of poems (McMichael 1358). “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a famous work that was almost a mockery of the romance-driven main character of the story, as it represented the indecisiveness of a personality and the superiority of an anti-romanticism ideal.

J. Alfred Prufrock appears to be a man who is unhappy with life, love, and aging. He starts off right away talking about “restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” and “Streets that follow like a tedious argument” (Eliot 176). His view of the world in which he lives does not

This week’s readings explored readings from the Modernism and WWI era, and those reading introduced two different characters named Nick Adams and J. Alfred Prufrock. These two men share men are going about their life while trying to deal with internal struggles, however what has caused these men to have their inner turmoil is much different. J. Alfred Prufrock struggles with plainness and while chasing a love interest, while Nick Adams is suffering from shell shock following WWI. These problem may appear to be different on the surface, but the problems they face in each of their lives represents struggles that the “Modern” man may face every day. J. Alfred Prufrock is and average man living in a dirty industrialized urban city and he is

The separation contains the Call to Adventure, Refusal or Acceptance of the Call, Supernatural Aid, Crossing of the First Threshold, and Entering the Belly of the Whale. Starting with “Mirror“ by Sylvia Plath, the Call to Adventure highlights whenever the light of the room where the setting takes place switches on and the woman of the poem presents herself in front of the mirror and judges her appearance. Whatever the mirror reflects depends on the mood of the woman. The Call to Adventure in “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot happens when the girl goes sledding down the mountain with her cousin. Also, the Call to Adventure shows up in “No Man is an Island” by John Donne when it gives the image of both men and women being introduced and involved

Message of Hope in Eliot's The Waste Land, Gerontion, and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

T.S. Eliot in the twentieth-century wrote what is today widely-regarded as one of the most important text of modernist poems, “The Waste Land.” This poem evaluates many aspects of ancient and contemporary culture and customs, and how the contemporary culture has degraded into a wasteland. In “The Waste Land,” Eliot conjures, through allusions to multiple religions and works of literature in five separate sections, a fragmented and seemingly disjointed poem. Eliot repeatedly alludes to western and eastern cultural foundation blocks to illustrate the cultural degradation prevalent in the modern era of England. One specific eastern example is brought up in the third section of the poem, which T.S. Eliot names “Fire Sermon,” an allusion to

Most first time readers of Eliot's work would, probably, agree that his poems read as bleak and depressing. They would also say that many of his poems portray society as having a terminal illness, but when we look deeper you can see that amid the anguish not all is lost and there is hope to be found among the ruins. "The Wasteland", is an amalgamation of fragmented images that are disturbing and, yet, at times beautifully poetic. The juxtaposition of the ugly landscape and the lyricism with which it is conveyed lend the poem an

In this discussion of Eliot’s poem I will examine the content through the optic of eco-poetics. Eco- poetics is a literary theory which favours the rhizomatic over the arborescent approach to critical analysis. The characteristics of the rhizome will provide the overarching structure for this essay. Firstly rhizomes can map in any direction from any starting point. This will guide the study of significant motifs in ‘The Waste Land.’ Secondly they grow and spread, via experimentation within a context. This will be reflected in the study of the voice and the language with which the poem opens. Thirdly rhizomes grow and spread regardless of breakage. This will allow for an

The Waste Land, written by T.S. Eliot, is poem portraying the lack and/or the corruption of culture in England during the post WWI period. Eliot uses a form of symbolism, in which he uses small pieces from popular literary works, to deliver his message. He begins by saying that culture during the post WWI period is a “barren wasteland.” Eliot goes on to support this claim by saying that people in England are in a sort of shock from the violence of World War I. Eliot believes that the lack of culture open doors for immorality to grow among the populace.