THOMAS STEARN ELIOT

1888-1965

THOMAS STEARNS ELIOTWhat is hell? Hell is oneself. Hell is alone, the other figures in it Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.

BIOGRAPHYBIRTHThomas Stearns Eliot September 26, 1888 in Missouri. CHILDHOODfather, Henry Ware Eliot, the president of the Hydraulic Brick Company. mother, Charlotte Champe Stearns, volunteer at the Humanity Club of St. Louis. was a teacher.

BIOGRAPHYEDUCATIONattended Harvard University left with masters and undergraduate degrees. returned to Harvard to receive a doctorate degree in philosophy. 1915 married first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood1917 began working at Lloyds Bank in London1925 left the bank1927 converted to Anglicanism1933 separated from Vivienne

1948 won Nobel prize1957 married Esme Valerie FletcherHad been his secretary at the publishing house In 1965, he died of emphysema in London at the age of seventy-seven

WORKSPrufrock and Other Observations (1917)Poems (1919)The Sacred Wood (1920)The Waste Land (1922)Ash-Wednesday (1927-30) Four Quartets (1943)Murder in the Cathedral (1935) The Cocktail Party (1950)

THE WASTE LANDWritten in 1922 Marriage failingBoth he and Vivienne were suffering from nervous disordersHe was in convalescence, recovering from a break-downEmotionally distanced himself from the work before it was published in book formThe impotence and sterility of the modern world; cultural fragmentation

THE WASTE LANDdisaffected sexual relationships in the modern, faithless worldThe disrupted cycles of:death and regenerationdecay and growththe possibility of spiritual and aesthetic unity:through religious belief and mythic structure

THE WASTE LANDIt is an anthology of indeterminate states of the mind, hallucinations, impressions, personalities blended and superimposed beyond the boundaries of time and place.

The speaking voice is related to various personalities: Tiresias, a knight from the Grail legend, the Fisher King.

It consists of five sections:The Burial of the Dead;A Game of Chess;The Fire Sermon;Death by Water;What the Thunder Said

STYLEAssociation of ideasPast and present are simultaneousMythical methodSubjective esperiences made universalUse of juxtapositionQuoations from different languages and literary worksFragmentationTechique of implication

STYLEObjective correlativeRepetition of words, images and phrasesDisconnected images/symbolsHighly expressive meterRhythm of free versesMetaphysical whimsical images/whimsFlexible tone

MAJOR MOTIFS, IMAGES, SYMBOLSRejuvenationquest for regeneration in a kaleidoscopic landscape of sexual disorder and spiritual desolationFertility (love, sex, vitality) vs sterility (impotence)death vs. rebirth death in liferebirth in deathcycle of seasons

MAJOR MOTIFS, IMAGES, SYMBOLSexternal barren landscape mirroring an internal barren landscapewilderness, barren land, desert, rockcause of this sterility of modern life: lack of beliefgod is buried, god is dead

COMPLEXITY AND AMBIGUITY OF THE POEM

Double/conflicting meaningswater: life, death, rebirth; rock: sterility and hopeStumbling blocksmany allusions, vague in originExploration on the nature of life, of modern world, complexity of experiencesymbols are not two-dimensional, thin, but rich in meaning; the poem was not meant to be a didactic allegory

Modern T.S. Eliots world19th century worldChaoticOrderedFutileMeaningfulPessimisticOptimisticUnstableStableLoss of faithFaithCollapse of moral valuesMorality/valuesConfused sense of identityClear sense of identity

OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVEFor Eliot, the objective correlative is a pattern of objects, events, actions, or a situation that can serve effectively to awaken in the reader an emotional response without being a direct statement of that subjective emotion.

Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water.(What the Thunder Said)