How Does Ts Eliot Use Of Modernism

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

The poet orders his listener to behold a “solitary Highland lass” reaping and singing by herself in a field. He says that anyone passing by should either stop here, or “gently pass” so as not to disturb her. As she “cuts and binds the grain” she “sings a melancholy strain,” and the valley overflows with the beautiful, sad sound. The speaker says that the sound is more welcome than any chant of the nightingale to weary travelers in the desert, and that the cuckoo-bird in spring never sang with a voice so thrilling. Impatient, the poet asks, “Will no one tell me what she sings?” He speculates that her song might be about “old, unhappy, far-off things, / And battles long ago,” or that it might be humbler, a simple song about “matter of today.” Whatever she sings about, he says, he listened “motionless and still,” and as he traveled up the

The writer makes use of diction to express his feelings towards the literary work and to set the dramatic tone of the poem. Throughout the poem, there is repetition of the word “I”, which shows the narrator’s individual feeling of change in the heart, as he experiences the sight of hundreds of birds fly across the October sky. As the speaker effortlessly recounts the story, it is revealed how deeply personal it is to him. Updike applies the words “flock” and “bird” repetitively to the poem, considering the whole poem is about the sight of seeing so many birds and the effect this has on a person. When the speaker first sees the flock of birds in lines 8-10, alliteration is applied to draw attention to what the narrator is witnessing. In line 29, Updike

To begin with, the repetition in the forefront of this poem is “no more” and “bird(s)”. Due to the fact that it forges a pathway towards an ominous tone this usage in the title, further shown in textual references, creates a pull unavoidable by oneself. The repetition of “no more” leads one to believe that the world may be coming to an end as civilization knows it and that actions of these people have caused this discouraged view point, since the birds are a reference to society. Another questionable reiteration is of the word “bomb(s)”. To further explain this notion, one must think of the predominant themes that come to mind during this repetition, such as; doomsday, war, and death. In addition to this, one may have societal ‘laws’ and other alleged standards thrust upon them, these are unavoidable and become a nuisance. These reiterations may be the result of a member of society, the speaker, attempting to echo the severity of society’s influence on other members and affiliates. Encapsulating an example, the author writes “the song is stuffed” (5) and this in itself leads to a line later in the poem that states “listen to their chattering or shrill world-songs

Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.

Diction affects the tone of the passage. Starting from line 14, the diction evolves into a more negative view. He uses biblical reference towards the beginning of the stanza. He begins to analyze his surroundings more rigorously, and sees the differences in how they look from a distance, to how they appear close by. Once this negative connotation has begun, the flock is said to be “paled, pulsed, compressed, distended, yet held an identity firm” (Lines 20-21). The author’s choice of words as in “less marvelous” (line 25) indicates his intention for making his lines definite, giving it a solid state of meaning. It symbolizes that the feeling of someone longing for something, and once they receive it are not as impressed by it. The diction plays a critical role when the tone of the qualities of nature are exposed. The author conveys the “trumpeting” of the geese as an exaltation to the beauty and simplicity of nature. “A cloud appeared, a cloud of dots like iron filings which a magnet underneath the paper undulates” (Lines 16-18). The iron filings in this phrase symbolize the issues the man faces. Once he looks closely at the flock, he realizes that these issues are only miniscule and do not add up to life in general. This elates him, thus concluding him to lift his heart.

In the third stanza, the persona emphasizes the point that everything seems to be going wrong. He adds that the days are twice as long and the birds have forgotten their song. This only shows us that the persona probably experiences sleepless nights and awaits for morning with much eagerness - the birds seem to take longer to announce that morning has come by their singing (Johnson 1). To collaborate this with the idea that everything reminded the persona of the departed, it seems that the persona spends his days and nights thinking about the dear person or object.

For Edna in the novel, the bird with the broken wing helps her relate to the natural cycle of a bird. The broken wing for Edna symbolizes her strength failing, and her consequences coming back weighing her down. The conversation she has with Arobin about Madame Reisz also foreshadows Edna breaking her wings. The bird at the end of the novel when Edna takes her life in the sea, broken, crashing is a picture of exactly what the Madame tells her would happen if she overestimated her strength and was not careful. A bird with a broken wing is bound to succumb to the natural cycle of life and perish if it does not gain its proper strength back. Edna lost all her strength when she decided to give her life. The bird singing throughout Whitman’s poem symbolizes the sorrow and crying out of the narrator and the grief of the nation as a whole. The bird is heard above all else in the land which is in complete calmness. The narrator says the bird sang a song of death, but also a verse for the fallen. The bird is not just singing out because of grief, but also to rejoice and celebrate the life the fallen had, out of remembrance and respect. The calming of nature, with only the sound of the bird overall is important show the importance of either crying out or rejoicing in remembrance. A bird will always sing, but to be able to relate to the narrators ability to relate to the voice spiritually shows how emotional the loss has left him and his surroundings. Not only are people effected by the death and loss, he uses the bird as a way to show everyone and everything was effected and grieving. Chopin used birds to imply people (Edna) can fly and be free from a cage (trapped in her life), but also break their wings and succumb to the brokenness (taking her

When analyzing, “Sympathy,” Dunbar comprehends himself with the caged bird at the beginning and end of each stanza with the phrase, I know. While observing the bird, Dunbar shows sympathy for the caged bird by understanding how the bird copes with the constant maltreatment. Dunbar endures the bird’s pain as the bird admires the landscape ahead imagining how it would feel to beat his wings without the discomfort of the cage, but continues to do so anyways to

The bird is the freedom of language. If the children were holding the bird, they can choose to let it go or kill it. Children today can learn how to express themselves the right way, or they can use ignorant and violent language.

The poem Sympathy by Paul Laurance Dunbar is about slavery. The birds represent the slaves. He explains how the birds are trapped and want nothing more than to escape the cage. How they may hurt from trying to escape but will never give up in trying to escape. Like the slaves who are enslaved and cannot live life. They will not stop fighting for their freedom and will do whatever to try and get it. Professor B had the strongest interpretation while professor C had the weakest interpretation of the poem.

Time is a motif that is mentioned by Eliot several times throughout this poem and creates a desolated tone. For Prufrock “[has] known the evenings, mornings, afternoons/[has] measured out [his] life with coffee spoons/[has known] the voices dying with a dying fall/Beneath the music from a farther room” (50-53). The quote also shows alienation when becoming disconnected with the unavoidable change of time as his life passes him by. The only voices he can hear are those in a room too far to reach until those too consume him. Finally, the classical era that many of the time were used to doesn’t last forever and Prufrock sees “the eternal Footman hold [his] coat, and snicker/

It could perhaps be considered that Eliot’s prime objective during the early years of his poetry was to paint a picture of the uncertainty and social decay that resulted from the aftermath of WW1 and perhaps even the from the end of the Edwardian era. Consequently, readers must look upon his unpoetic diction and lexicon and remember that he is attempting to create a new type of poetry which reflects the complexity of modern living. Often the sincerity and detailed imagery in Eliot’s work results from a lot of his speakers being vessels through which he

Beyond the poetry he wrote, Eliot drove the world to modernist views through essays and other means of literature. Containing stories, news, and opinions of both T.S. Eliot and others who wrote about him, The Letters of T.S. Eliot offer an inside perspective on Eliot’s life (Eliot and Haffenden). In Volume 1 of the revised edition of the letters Patrick Query describes how T.S. Eliot felt so much passion for culture and how it must improve (Letters, Volume 1). In the volume, the writer states Eliot started a movement to modernize literature all on his own. Eliot contained such a strong passion for making the world a better place, that as society generally acted apathetically towards life, Eliot strived for a culture where people actually inserted energy and passion into life (Poetry Foundation). Also, in John Worthen’s biography of T.S. Eliot, the author believes Eliot focused the entire masterpiece of Four Quartets on illustrating to his audience despite painful times in life, people must focus more on the beauty of life (Worthen). After addressing the aspects of society he believed needed to improve, Eliot wrote several poems on each topic which showed the beauty of his opinion and a more joyful culture. The Waste Land helps describe how to improve the war stricken world, and other poems such as Four Quartets and The Sacred Wood deal with other cultural characteristics Eliot strived to improve. Devoting much of his literature career to impacting

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