Symbolism and Religious Drama: T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral

Eliot uses allusions and imagery to make several references to characters—both real and fictional—to vicariously show how Prufrock feels. The first allusion is an epigraph from Dante’s Inferno:

For centuries, seasons have been understood to stand for the same set of meanings. Seasons are easily understood by the reader, and are easy for the writer to use; as Foster states, “Seasons can work magic on us, and writers can work magic with seasons” (Foster 192). The different seasons are a huge part of our lives; we live through each one every year, and we know how each of them impacts our lives. This closeness between people and nature allows us to be greatly impacted by the use of seasons in literature. In addition, Foster lays out the basic meanings of each season for us: autumn is harvest, decline, tiredness; winter is anger, hatred, cold, old age; summer is passion, love, happiness, beauty; and spring is childhood and youth. On the

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.

Victorian period was a distinct period in history that is marked for being an Age of Faith where the old traditions and cultures had renewed emphasis on everyday life. However, it was also a period of economic prosperity that resulted in the growth of industrialization and science. The scientific theories such as Evolution and “Higher Criticism”, which was a scientific study of the Bible, resulted in the Victorian period also being classified as “Age of Doubt” which brought gradual collapse of longstanding religious beliefs. This complex relationship of Victorian period being both the Age of Faith and Doubt

Seasonal Symbolism is also used in this poem. Right from the beginning the author titles her work, “First Thanksgiving” letting the reader know the poem is set in autumn. In the world of literature, autumn is known to represent decline, middle age and tiredness. Although Olds uses seasonal symbolism in her poem to hint at underlying meanings

St Thomas Becket (December 21, 1118 – December 29, 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He engaged in a conflict with King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral.

Weather and seasons are an amazing example of symbolism in literary works. In chapter 9, It’s

In the novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster gives evidence of every season having a symbolic meaning in different pieces of literature. In most cases, the seasons can represent certain times in a person’s life, such as death or the renewal of life. Foster states that the seasons may also represent times of decline, dormancy, awakening, and even times of passion. Foster then gives examples of how the seasons are interpreted in other pieces of literature, such as Shakespeare. This makes the reader question if the seasons are symbolic in other pieces of literature and if the author used a specific season on purpose to help portray the meaning of the story they are trying to tell.

On the other hand, one could also make the argument that Becket should have given his loyalty to Henry first because Henry gave him the job of archbishop. Others may think that Becket should have stayed loyal to the King because they believe the church should always come second to the King. However, this is problematic because although Henry gave him the position of archbishop, Becket had more integrity and valued his responsibilities to the church more than his friendship with Henry. In conclusion, although in some ways you could side with Henry, the smarter and better choice is to go with

T.S Eliot’s poem, “The winter evening settles down” is a short, simple to read poem with several different examples of imagery. Eliot uses descriptive words, for instance, “withered leaves”, “broken blinds”, and “lonely cab-horse” (lines 7-10). He paints an extremely bleak image of a town that seems to be deserted of people. The tone of the poem plays hand-in-hand with the imagery used. This town is an unpleasant place where it has seemed to be neglected for some years now. Eliot’s use of imagery takes the reader to this deserted, torpid place; however, at the same time, his goal is to bring the life back into this grim town.

In this sonnet, Shakespeare uses metaphor to create a vivid image in the reader's mind of the passage of time, old age, and death by describing the Fall season, the end of a day, and the burning out of a flame.

            I think this style of writing is also a reflection of Eliot's feelings about the time.  Eliot was more of a Modernist than Victorian poet and as such held to beliefs like: there is no higher power in the universe, man is alone on this planet to govern his own affairs, everyone is truly alone, there is no unity, no support, for we live in a godless heartless world (Stacey Donohue).  The floating, confusing, jumbled mix of emotions and directions in this poem mirrors the modernist image of society.

Eliot uses metaphor to relate accessible, physical entities and concepts to more abstract themes present in the poem. In

The poem with enduring value. The fragmented structure and irregular rhyme scheme describes the fractured reality of metropolitan life. The opening images, personification of ‘winter evening settl[ing] down’ presents an impersonal city, as the melancholic connotation of ‘winter’ reveal the alienation and vacancy of its residents. This is reinforced through the use of enjambment ‘gusty showers/grimy craps/lonely cab-horse,’ illustrating the confused and tangled city that the persona inhabits. The ‘newspapers from vacant lots’ symbolically reflect upon the vacancy of the society to which Critic Jon Hanrahan adds Eliot’s protagnists struggle with spiritual insufficiency and a failure to make authentic connections with others’ An absence of affection and love bonds between humans is shown through the use of heavy sexual imagery and connoatations of a courtesan awating her clents as she laid upon her back and waited,’ reflecting on the ‘thosand sordid imges/of which her sol is constituted,’ the hyperbole reducing her soul into n entity of lust, sybollicallt manifesting her loneliness. As the pem concludes the revolving warth is compared to ‘ancient women’ metaphorically’ gathering fuel in cacant lots’, the paradoxical statement conveying the persuit for human warmth. Therefore my personal perception and

According to Bracher, this loading and overloading makes Autumn quite the ambivalent figure, traditionally standing for death, but being attributed to fulfilment in the poem. Autumn’s actions unite both meanings within them, abundance and ripening symbolizing death and decay – through the anxiety of bursting and rotting –, as well as fulfilment (Bracher 1990, 646