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T.s. eliot and modernism
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The word tradition is well known for meaning the passing down of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. T.S. Eliot, however, brings this meaning into better focus. In the epigraph above from “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot states that no new work is truly new. In Eliot’s own words, “what happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it” (2327). This statement simply means that no artist or poet can be praised by what is being stated in their work. The significance found in anything new is based off of the ideas and principles of those who came before. Tradition is something that needs to be valued because of the wisdom and knowledge that has …show more content…
This essay is divided into three parts with each part bringing new perspective to its meaning. The first part of this essay primarily concentrates on the true connotation of tradition. The second part, however, focuses on his impersonal theory of poetry and the relation of the poem to its author. In this section, Eliot discusses the analogy of a catalyst. When two gases come together in the presence of platinum, they form sulphuric acid. “This combination takes place only if the platinum is present; nevertheless the newly formed acid contains no trace of platinum, and the platinum itself is apparently unaffected; has remained inert, neutral, and unchanged” (2328). In this portion of the passage, Eliot deliberates on how this transforming catalyst will affect a person. Even though the person who goes through this transformation may feel new emotions or feelings, these feelings and emotions are not solely their own. They have been there the whole time but the feelings went unnoticed until something, such as a previously written poem or artwork, caused a reaction in the artist’s mind to bring out this new emotional state. The new emotional state is what motivates someone to create something new, but according to Eliot’s outlook on tradition it’s not an idea that is really …show more content…
By definition it means the passing down of customs from one generation to the next. This word is brought into better connotation in T.S. Eliot’s essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Eliot, in this work, provides his insight on how no work is truly new, and how the past is to not be overlooked. The previous ideas of those who came before, should be highly valued because, as Eliot explains, those ideas are the basis for what is to come. While new artists are creating works that are seemingly brand new and never thought of before, these ideas came to them through inspiration from previous poets or artists. In the first part of this essay, the focus is more centered towards the true connotation of tradition. The second part however gives a solid explanation of how he came to these conclusions. Eliot uses the analogy of a catalyst to describe just how a new idea can be inspired by something as simple as a chemical reaction. The importance of traditionalism is prevalent in this portion of the essay because it gives a visual idea of how the old ideas inspire the new. When two gasses come into the presence of platinum, they form sulphuric acid. This is similar to what happens to an artist or poet when they come into contact with a piece that truly inspires them. This inspiration reveals emotions in the artists that were seemingly unknown, but really just had not been discovered
Since Beethoven was seen as such an influential composer, many sought to compose music similar to that of Beethoven and the other masters who had set the stage for classical music. Yet they could not be too similar to Beethoven and had to have uniqueness in their compositions. As Burkholder explains, composers that followed the musical canon, “...distinguished from their lesser contemporaries by their level of craftsmanship, by the strength of their musical personality, and by an ineffable quality of ‘inspiration,’ ‘beauty,’ or ‘truth’.(Burkholder 120). The craftsmanship can be interpreted as the way they created their compositions in a great way such as the main inspirers of these young composers did. The craftsmanship had to of course to make it an impact, like pieces in any museum, they have to show skill and express the quality of their design. Their strength in musical personality had to show their uniqueness and style they imposed when composing music, to the point where they could be distinguished through their compositions. This strength in personality had to pop out while still following and showing their inspiration, which was the most important quality, to that of the masters of classical music. The inspiration was a key factor that lead to the rise of the musical
Thomas Stearns Eliot was perhaps one of the most critical writers in the English language’s history. Youngest of seven children and born to the owner of a Brick Company, he wasn’t exactly bathed in poverty at all. Once he graduated from Harvard, he went on to found the Unitarian church of St. Luis. Soon after, Eliot became more serious about literature. As previously stated, his literature works were possibly some of the most famous in history. Dr. Tim McGee of Worland High School said that he would be the richest writer in history if he was still alive, and I have no choice but to believe him. In the past week many of his works have been observed in my English literature class. Of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s poems Preludes, The Journey of the Magi, The Hollow Men, The Waste Land, and Four Quartets, I personally find his poem The Hollow men to be the most relatable because of its musical allusions, use of inclusive language, and his opinion on society.
The Modernist era of poetry, like all reactionary movements, was directed, influenced, and determined by the events preceding it. The gradual shift away from the romanticized writing of the Victorian Era served as a litmus test for the values, and the shape of poetry to come. Adopting this same idea, William Carlos Williams concentrated his poetry in redirecting the course of Modernist writing, continuing a break from the past in more ways than he saw being done, particularly by T.S. Eliot, an American born poet living abroad. Eliot’s monumental poem, The Waste Land, was a historically rooted, worldly conscious work that was brought on by the effects of World War One. The implementation of literary allusions versus imagination was one point that Williams attacked Eliot over, but was Williams completely in stride with his own guidelines? Looking closely at Williams’s reactionary poem to The Waste Land, Spring and All, we can question whether or not he followed the expectations he anticipated of Modernist work; the attempts to construct new art in the midst of a world undergoing sweeping changes.
T.S. Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. His poem“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is different and unusual. He rejects the logic connection, thus, his poems lack logic interpretation. He himself justifies himself by saying: he wrote it to want it to be difficult. The dissociation of sensibility, on the contrary, arouses the emotion of readers immediately. This poem contains Prufrock’ s love affairs. But it is more than that. It is actually only the narration of Prufrock, a middle-aged man, and a romantic aesthete , who is bored with his meaningless life and driven to despair because he wished but
In the early 20th century, many writers such as T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) and Langston Hughes wrote what scholars of today consider, modern poetry. Writers in that time period had their own ideas of what modern poetry should be and many of them claimed that they wrote modern work. According to T.S. Eliot’s essay, “From Tradition”, modern poetry must consist of a “tradition[al] matter of much wider significance . . . if [one] want[s] it [he] must obtain it by great labour . . . no poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists’ (550). In another term, tradition only comes within the artist or the art itself; therefore, it should be universally monumental to the past. And, Langston Hughes argues that African-Americans should embrace and appreciate their own artistic virtues; he wishes to break away from the Euro-centric tradition and in hopes of creating a new blueprint for the African-American-Negro.
The act of creating art is rarely, if ever, a truly original action. The literary scholar Harold Bloom coined the phrase anxiety of influence, which describes the belief that there is no such thing as an original poem: “new poems originate mainly from old poems; that the primary struggle of the young poet is against the old masters.” The same is true
(T.S. Eliot Quotes.) TS Eliot was not only a poet, but a poet that wanted to change his world. He was writing in the hopes that it would give his society a reality check that would encourage them to change themselves and make their lives more worthwhile. Through his themes of alienation, isolation, and giving an example of a decaying society, TS Eliot wanted to change his society.
Different speakers in "The Waste Land" mirror the disjointedness of modern experience by presenting different viewpoints that the reader is forced to put together for himself. This is similar to the disassociation in modern life in that life has ceased to be a unified whole: various aspects of 20th-century life -- various academic disciplines, theory and practice, Church and State, and Eliot's "disassociation of sensibilities," or separation of heart and mind -- have become separated from each other, and a person who lives in this time period is forced to shore these fragments against his or her ruins, to borrow Eliot's phrase, to see a picture of an integrated whole.
Both Browning and Eliot seek to improve upon the nature of the dramatic monologue. Browning emphasizes structure and a separation between the poet and the character which is reiterated by Eliot’s poem. Browning’s influence on Eliot can be seen by the form and structure of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” adding working intrinsically with the theme and subject of the work. However, Eliot deviates slightly from Browning by the portrayal of his characters, and the amount of information that he is willing to share with the reader. The intended message of Browning’s poem is much more apparent than Eliot’s who creates an open ended poem that can be interpreted differently by each reader.
T.S. Eliot is often considered one of the greatest and most influential poets of the 20th Century. Not only were his highly regarded poems such as “The Wasteland” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” influential to the literary style of his time, but his work as a publisher highlighted the work of many talented poets. Analyzing his poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” with psychoanalytic criticism reveals several core issues in the speaker of the poem, and may reflect Eliot himself.
...encing and affecting the art movement and its contribution in shaping how art is produced and critiqued based on the standards that it had set.
Moody, Anthony David. The Cambridge Companion to T.S. Eliot. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 121. Print.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go,” T.S. Eliot is basically trying to say that only people who push their limit can actually see how much they can really accomplish. T.S. Eliot made poetry that showed his negative views on life, people, and world. T.S. Eliot took poetry to another level by the way he writes and uses symbolism.
middle of paper ... ... Eliot believes in restoring the bad to new beginnings. In conclusion, Eliot revolutionizes poetry to a new level and is one of the most prestigious poets to this day. Works Cited Childs, John Steven.
T.S Eliot, widely considered to be one of the fathers of modern poetry, has written many great poems. Among the most well known of these are “The Waste Land, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which share similar messages, but are also quite different. In both poems, Eliot uses various poetic techniques to convey themes of repression, alienation, and a general breakdown in western society. Some of the best techniques to examine are ones such as theme, structure, imagery and language, which all figure prominently in his poetry. These techniques in particular are used by Eliot to both enhance and support the purpose of his poems.