T. S. Eliot Impact On Poetry

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.

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.

TS Elliot represents the views of many artists of the modernist movement who encapsulate the psychological and emotional distress of WW1 and the early events of the 20th Century in his poems. Modernists believe that every individual in an industrialised city is part of a superficial society that reduces the depth and value of human relationships. The alienation and loneliness as a consequence of this superficial society are strong themes that are part of many modernist works. This meaning is hidden behind layers of complicated and elitist imagery and symbolism which force the reader to search for meaning in the poem as the poets search for meaning in their modern lives. The

[Literature] may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves, and an evasion of the visible and sensible world.

Thomas Stearns [TS] Eliot was born in into a wealthy family in St Louis, Missouri, America in 1888

Eliot spoke about has been achieved by Amy Lowell magnificently. Therefore, she reached the Traditional sense as both the Historical and Traditional sense are the faces of the same coin. She knew that the past and the present are both connected by one web. It was apparent when she connected the chain of events in the poem to her advantage just to show this problem. The problem by living a life of “patterns” and being bound by society, which makes this poem not that original, because many people spoke about this problem before, but she herself as a talented writer, she added more to it. These “patterns” would represent us going into life with the same cycle over and over, almost like a daily routine, that each day takes a part away, till we all left empty-handed without any sort of feelings or

Different eras had specific types of genres. Overtime boundaries and barriers were being challenged to create new writing styles and evolving into revolutionary ideas. Modernism was one of these genres. Writers such as Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot used this genre to challenge traditional writing practices to expand into the new era of modernism. Modernism allowed Hemingway and Eliot to push the boundaries and challenge individuals to use there inner perception and critical thinking skills to understand the text as it pertained to them. The individual readers could use personal or social experiences to make a deeper meaning of the text. Hemingway and Eliot put modernism into use and created stories such as Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” or T.S Eliot’s poem

Poetry is an art borne of a love for language and a want for individual expression. Especially evident during times of transition, poetry can be used to define exisistence or accentuate fantasy. The Modernist movement provided room for experimentation and provocation, proclaiming, "out with the old, in with the new”. Edward Estlin Cummings illustrated himself as an exemplar example of the Modernist poetry and challenged the expectations of contemporary poetry.

            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.

Since the inception of writing, many artists have used their creative penmanship to express themselves. From journal articles to poems, countless texts have been written and printed. Among these writers exist an elite upper class of creative artists who dip their pens into poetry. Throughout time, the art of writing poetry has proven to be a useful and insightful manner of propagating ideas and emotions. Poetry posses an advantage in the way that its artists can create relatable landscapes for readers to enjoy. Over time, many poets have made their mark on the art form and advanced its movement. As poets evolve and create, so do the movements in which they partake. Modernism, which was really thrust into life by poets like Ezra Pound and T.S

The excerpt from T.S. Eliot's work "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" highlights some of the modernist theories that were forming during the time. Some of the themes that this poem shows are the omissions of introductions, conclusions, and continuity and the fragmentation of experience. The modernist ideals can be seen in the form and the theme of poem. The poem and the ideals reflect the general anxiety and confusion of the time. The excerpt from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T.S. Eliot, shows some of the ideas of the modernist movement, ideals like fragmentation of experience and omission of introduction, conclusion, and continuity, which can be seen in the form and the tone of the poem, all lead to the theme of the poem and the sentiments of the time frame.

The dictionary definition of modernism is “a style or movement in the arts that aims to break with classical and traditional forms.” In T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets two of the poem’s, Burnt Norton and The Dry Salvages embody the defining characteristics of modernism. Two of the main themes in the group of poem’s are man and the natural world around him, and existence in life. While these poems’ are complex and hard to follow, Eliot’s use of modernism is captured and related to social elements of the 20th century western world.

   Thomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a

The end of The Hollow Men can only be the beginning of a deep and long reflection for thoughtful readers. T.S. Eliot, who always believed that in his end is his beginning, died and left his verse full of hidden messages to be understood, and codes to be deciphered. It is this complexity, which is at the heart of modernism as a literary movement, that makes of Eliot’s poetry very typically modernist. As Ezra Pound once famously stated, Eliot truly did “modernize himself”. Although his poetry was subject to important transformations over the course of his

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