T.S Eliot is considered as one of the most of import modernist poets. The content of his verse form every bit good as his poetic manner give elements of the modern motion that was celebrated during his clip. In fact, modernism was viewed as “ a rejection of traditional 19th-century norms, whereby creative persons, designers, poets and minds either altered or abandoned earlier conventions in an effort to re-envision a society in flux. ” Modernism was besides chiefly represented by orientation towards atomization, free poetry, contradictory allusions and multiple points of position different from the Victorian and Romantic authorship. These modern characteristics appear greatly in the plants of Eliot. Two of the most outstanding verse forms where Eliot shows his modern orientations are “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” and “ The Waste Land. ”
“ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” is regarded as one of the basic modernist verse forms. It shows the modern elements of decomposition of life and mental stableness. The verse form speaks about the job of the modern adult male, Prufrock. He laments his physical and rational defects, the deficiency of chances in his life in add-on to the deficiency of religious advancement. What is impressive is that the scene of the verse form can be understood to be either as a existent topographic point or a mental province reflecting the sub-conscious of the individual.
The most of import modernist technique in the verse form is the stream-of-consciousness technique. This technique reflects the fragmental nature of the modern adult male ‘s outlook. It besides a allows the reader to research the interior ego of the character. As seen in the verse form, Prufrock ‘s thought displacements really frequently from fiddling to important issues and frailty versa. This explains the thought of subjective clip in modernism which is contradictory to historical clip of past, present and future.
As modernism stresses the thoughts of pessimism and solitariness, the negative facets of modern life are besides stressed in the verse form. In fact, Prufrock seems to be merely able see those negative facets. Death is besides dominant in the verse form demoing Prufrock as an insect pinned against the wall. It is even personified as ‘the ageless Footman. ‘ What is of import is that Prufrock is viewed as a representative of all modern work forces. He is indecisive. He can non even make up one’s mind about eating a Prunus persica. It is in this sense that the verse form is seen as a record of the random ideas in the head of Prufrock.
Finally, modernist authors were interested in demoing characters holding multiple personalities. This is clear in Prufrock who functions as both the talker and the hearer. In add-on, modernist texts are full with allusions to other texts. This is besides found in the verse form where there is much mention to Dante, Shakespeare and the Holy Bible.
Although Eliot is known as an outstanding modernist poet, some critics argued that he uses some traditional medieval techniques in his plant. Those critics argued that “ While T. S. Eliot might be called a medieval modernist because of his esteem for the organic and religious community of the Middle Ages together with his “ impersonal ” construct of art, his elitist and formalist positions isolate him from several of the cardinal footings of the tradition as I have defined it. ” In other words, some features of Eliot ‘s work exhibit mediaeval subjects and manner ; at the same clip, these plants are besides rooted in the modern orientation of literature. That is why some critics called him a “ mediaeval modernist. ”
The point is that Eliot seems to hold nostalgia for the mediaeval tradition linked with his involvement in modern life. In his poesy, Eliot combines both, concern with spiritual issues ( mediaeval subject ) and a tendency towards modern-day issues ( modern subject ) . So as critics observed, Eliot seeks some kind of “ integrating ” between the two facets.
This is really clear in “ The Waste Land ” where Eliot shows his uncomfortableness for modern life by contrasting it with mediaeval traits. He shows the difference between the divinely spiritual medieval life which modern life deficiencies and the autumn in religious affairs in modern life. In fact, “ The Waste Land, ” can be considered as a cardinal modernist text. The major modernist component found in the verse form is the clear trust on images, which is a basic feature of modern texts. The verse form shows many disconnected images that reflect the feeling of loss in modern adult male. Although the reader understands nil of these images, the storyteller promises to demo the reader how to do significance from atomization. This building of intending from atomization is one of the indispensable characteristics of modernism.
The verse form clearly describes the modern universe, or what the storyteller footings as “ the huge view of futility and lawlessness which is modern-day history. ” The frequent images of falling and decay are representative of modern life. Life is represented as fiddling, enduring from the jobs of war. This all happens on both the existent physical degree and the interior psychological degree of the modern adult male.
The disconnected images, the stream-of-consciousness and all the other unusual stylistic characteristics in the verse form are used to assist convey the message of the poet. For Eliot, modern life is fragmented and unlogical ; so he conveys this through his manner. That is why in “ The Waste Land ” he tends to interrupt the logic and conventions. So the verse form may be clearly viewed as a representation of the modern life and modern adult male psychological science both in footings of its content and manner.
To reason, both The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” and “ The Waste Land ” are considered as critical texts stand foring the modern idea. In more specific footings, they are illustrations of modernist poesy. The verse form ‘ content and manner reflect the modern life, particularly in its influence on the person. Eliot is adept in demoing this through his manner in both verse forms. He use stream-of- consciousness to demo the pandemonium in of the modern adult male ‘s thought. In add-on, he uses many techniques such as imagism, repeat, atomization and other modernist techniques. All these techniques help picture the modern life for the reader and reflect its position in existent mode. That is why one can easy state that Eliot is considered as one of the most influential modernist poets in English literature.
