T.S. Eliot surely resides in history as one of the greatest twentieth-century poets in the English language. He spanned the American-English landscape in life as well as in literature. His poetry is replete with imagery yet relatively devoid of obvious meaning. Even a poem entitled “Ash Wednesday” (a seemingly religious topic) skirts on just conjuring a sense of beauty in the reader and avoiding a tone traditionally reminiscent of a church.
Of course, one poem in particular stands out as embodying this persona: “The Wasteland.” This five-part poem consists of a collection of beautiful images that require readers to slow down and to contemplate in order to read. As one of my friends once remarked, “It’s so beautiful, yet I have no clue what it means!” That’s what’s so majestic about Eliot’s poetic sense.
Generally, his verse inspires an other-worldliness and transcendence. His mastery of language was so that he evoked awe without resorting to silly tricks and without relying on prior experience. His poems draw out the universal humanity in us and lure us into psychological archetypes that define us as a species.
Perhaps future generations will see Eliot as being a part of some twentieth-century, modernist-type movement. Perhaps. But my reading of Eliot is that he is always gone out to sea (one of his favorite settings in life and in verse). He lived alone on a plane where the only humanity was inside his soul. He was the idealized solitary genius.
It’s ironic that Eliot converted to Christianity in mid-life. Though I share in confessing this creed, I lack the overwhelming sense of universal humanity that Eliot possesses. Most of expressed Christianity is peculiar to one place, one time, one denomination, one church, or one preacher. Eliot either neglected his Christianity in his writings or saw the world differently than anyone else who has taken up the English language. The way he expressed his vision of the world belongs to the ages.
That’s why its worth anyone’s time to slow down and pick their way through Eliot’s imaginary wordsmithry. From within, his poems elucidate a reality as only he saw it, alone in his expedition, metaphorically out at sea.
Collected Poems: 1909 – 1962
by T.S. Eliot
Copyright (c) 1963
Harcourt
ISBN13 9780151189786
Page Count: 219
Genre: Poetry
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