T.S. Eliot-lect

1、T.S. Eliot （ 1888-1965）,Preeminent modernist critic Experiments in poetic form Explores possibility of multiple voices in poetry Emphasizes and upholds tradition Strong emphasis on New Critics Born in the US and as an adult became a British subject, his works are considered a part of both national l

2、iterature,BIRTH AND DEATH: On September 26, 1888 Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in Missouri. In 1965, he died in London at the age of seventy-seven. CHILDHOOD: His father, Henry Ware Eliot, was the president of the Hydraulic Brick Company. His mother, Charlotte Champe Stearns, was a volunteer at the

3、Humanity Club of St. Louis. Before becoming a volunteer, she was a teacher. When he was born, his parents were in their mid-forties and his siblings were already grown. EDUCATION: He attended Harvard University and left with a masters and undergraduate degrees. Later, he returned to Harvard to recei

4、ve a doctorate degree in philosophy.,Major works,Prufrock and Other Observations. (1917). The Sacred Wood. (1920). The Waste Land. (1922). Homage to John Dryden. (1924). Poems 1909-1925 (includes The Hollow Men). (1925). For Lancelot Andrewes. (1928). Ash-Wednesday. (1930). Selected Essays 1917-1932

5、. (1932). The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism. (1933). Murder in the Cathedral. (1935). The Cocktail Party. (1949).,Awards and Recognitions,the Hanseatic Gothe Prize in 1954. the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. the Order of Merit in January 1948. the Dante Gold Medal in 1959.,He considere

6、d himself a classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic in religion.,Vivien Haigh-Wood,His Aesthetic Views,1. A poem should be an organic thing in itself, a made object. Once it is finished, the poet will no longer have control of it. It should be judged, analyzed by itself wi

7、thout the interference of the poets personal influence and intentional elements and other elements.,2. Modern life is chaotic, futile, fragmentary, so poetry should reflect this fragmentary nature of life and this kind nature of life should be projected, not analyzed.,3. objective correlative:,a set

8、 of objects, a situation, a chain of events, formula in which the poet expresses his emotion and in which the fusion of intellect, feeling, and experience should be achieved.,4. The poet should draw upon tradition: use the past to serve the resent and future( the past, present, future interrelate),

9、borrow from authors remote in time, alien in language, diverse in interest, use the past to underscore what is missing from the present.,His Techniques,1 Use of disconnected images/symbols 2 Use of literary allusions/references 3 Use of highly expressive meter and rhythm of free verses 4 Use of meta

10、physical whimsical images/whims 5 Use of flexible tone,T.S. Eliot and Chart of The Cocktail Party, ca. 1950,Burnt Norton,And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses Had the look of flowers that are looked at. There they were as our guests, accepted and accepting.,xxx,Burnt Norton: Lawn,So we moved

11、, and they, in a formal pattern, Along the empty alley, into the box circle,Burnt Norton: Pool,To look down into the drained pool. Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,Burnt Norton: Pool,And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight, And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly, The surface glittere

12、d out of heart of light, And they were behind us, reflected in the pool. Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty,The Road to East Coker Photo taken by TSE, 1937,leaving the deep lane Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon, Where you lean against a bank while a van passes, And the deep la

13、ne insists on the direction Into the village, in the electric heat Hypnotised.,East Coker: Church,The Dry Salvages,Little Gidding: Chapel,Analysis of Prufrock,1. Title 2. His character 3. His world 4. His situation 5. Symbolic meaning of this character,1. Title,In the drafts, the poem had the subtit

14、le Prufrock among the Women. Eliot said The Love Song of portion of the title came from The Love Song of Har Dyal, a poem by Rudyard Kipling. The form of Prufrocks name is like the name that Eliot was using at the time: T. Stearns Eliot. It has been suggested that Prufrock comes from the German word

15、 Prfstein meaning touchstone.,There was a Prufrock-Littau Company in St Louis at the time Eliot lived there, a furniture store; in a 1950 letter, Eliot said, I did not have, at the time of writing the poem, and have not yet recovered, any recollection of having acquired this name in any way, but I t

16、hink that it must be assumed that I did, and that the memory has been obliterated.,Epigraph,In context, the epigraph refers to a meeting between Dante and Guido da Montefeltro, who was condemned to the eighth circle of Hell for providing false counsel to Pope Boniface VIII. This encounter follows Da

17、ntes meeting with Ulysses, who himself is also condemned to the circle of the Fraudulent. According to Ron Banerjee, the epigraph serves to cast ironic light on Prufrocks intent. Like Guido, Prufrock had intended his story never be told, and so by quoting Guido, Eliot reveals his view of Prufrocks l

18、ove song.,Frederick Locke contends that Prufrock himself is suffering from multiple personalities of sorts, and that he embodies both Guido and Dante in the Inferno analogy. One is the storyteller; the other the listener who later reveals the story to the world. He posits, alternatively, that the ro

19、le of Guido in the analogy is indeed filled by Prufrock, but that the role of Dante is filled by you, the reader, as in Let us go then, you and I, (1). In that, the reader is granted the power to do as he pleases with Prufrocks love song.,The quotation that Eliot did choose comes from Dante also. In

20、ferno reads:,If I thought my answer were given to anyone who would ever return to the world, this flame would stand still without moving any further. But since never from this abyss has anyone ever returned alive, if what I hear is true, without fear of infamy I answer you.,2. His Character,self-con

21、scious, self-distrusting, timid, lacking in vitality and courage/coward impotent physically and spiritually, tortured between desire and impotence,3. His World,elegant, empty, trivial, trifling, without force and vitality, sluggish, lifeless, listless, futile, meaningless,4. His Situation,desire for

22、 love, yet afraid of being rejected and misunderstood, desires for true life, love, turn a new leaf , yet has not courage to act/take action,5. Symbolic meaning of this character,Archetypal modern man, western intellectuals,Main Ideas of the Poem,The most significant dispute lies over what the “over

23、whelming question” is. Many believe that Prufrock is trying to tell a woman his romantic interest in her. Others, however, believe that Prufrock is trying to express some deeper philosophical insight or disillusionment with society, but fears rejection, pointing to statements that express a disillus

24、ionment with such society “measured out with coffee spoons”。 Many believe that the poem is a criticism of Edwardian society and Prufrocks dilemma represents the inability to live a meaningful existence in the modern world. For many readers in the 1920s, Prufrock seemed to epitomize the frustration and impote