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Chapter 12 T. S. Eliot Stevens Williamsitle. T. S. Elliot important figure in the Western literature; leading figure at the beginning of the last century in poetry and also in literary criticism I. Life (1888 – 1965) II. Works III. Point of View IV. Style. exit.
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Chapter 12 T. S. Eliot Stevens Williamsitle T. S. Elliot important figure in the Western literature; leading figure at the beginning of the last century in poetry and also in literary criticism I. Life (1888 – 1965) II. Works III. Point of View IV. Style exit continue
I. Life (1888 – 1965) • Eliot was born in St. Louis in Missouri. • Both of his parents were cultured people; he grew up in a wealthy family and received good education. • He graduated from Harvard and received M. A. degree. • He came to Europe for research and stayed in England because of WWI. • He first worked as a bank clerk and then an editor. • In 1927, he became an English citizen. • He won Nobel Prize in 1948. exit continue
II. Works 1. Poems • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock • Ash Wednesday • Four Quartets • The Waste Land 2. Sample poem: The Waste Land • five parts: The Burial of the Dead, A Game of Chess, The Fire Sermon, Death by Water, What the Thunder Said • Theme: a picture of spiritual ruins in the Western world after WWI; expressing the disillusionment of a whole generation; trying to find ways of salvation • Form: free verse • Features: quotations and allusions (six different languages; nearly 60 others’ works and large amount of legends); discontinuity and unrelatedness (to show the illogical sides of the modern life); strong historical sense (using the past as a yardstick to measure the present) • Significance: signifying the emergence of Modernism; influenced the whole generation of writers exit continue
3. Verse dramas 4. Literary Criticism • Reconsidering lots of overlooked poets (such as the metaphysical poets) • Leading New Criticism (a influential critical group in 1920s to 1950s) • Tradition and the Individual Talent (manifesto of modernist poetry) exit continue
III. Point of View • The modern society is futile and chaotic. • Only poets can create some order out of chaos. • The method to use is to compare the past and the present. exit continue
IV. Style • Fresh visual imagery, flexible tone and highly expressive rhythm • Difficult and disconnected images and symbols, quotations and allusions • Elliptical structures, strange juxtapositions, an absence of bridges exit continue