T.s eliot theory of impersonality

Eliot's Theory of Impersonality in Poetry

1. Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 Lecture No: 14 “T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry” Course: Literary Criticism II- ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] By: Siraj Khan Lecturer in English KUST

2. Outlines Poet’s Biography Impersonal Theory Two Folded Theory Addressing Emotions and Feelings Tradition & Individual Examples Conclusion Topic : Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry

3. T. S Eliot ( September 26 , 1888– January 04 , 1965 ) Born in St. Louis in 1888 Moved to London just before WWI: eventually became a British Subject New Criticism Scholar (Languages, Philosophy) America- born British Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic, Dramatist, Publisher and editor Nobel Prize Winner Objective Criticism The Waste Land (1922) The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Tradition and Individual Observation Topic : Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry

4. Impersonal Theory Continual Surrender of himself The personality of the artist is not important; the important thing is his sense of tradition. A good poem is a living whole of all the poetry that has ever been written. He must forget his personal joys and sorrows, and he absorbed in acquiring a sense of tradition and expressing it in his poetry. Thus, the poet’s personality is merely a medium, having the same significance as a catalytic agent, or a receptacle in which chemical reactions take place. That is why Eliot holds that, “Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry .” Topic: T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected]

5. Two Folded Theory The Relation of the Poet to the Past The Relation of the Poem to its Author The past is never dead, it lives in the present. “ no poet or no artist has his complete meaning alone”. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists.” Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected]

6. Uses of Impersonality of T.S Eliot’s Poetry “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.” Thus Eliot does not deny personality or emotion to the poet. Only, he must depersonalise his emotions. There should be an extinction of his personality. This impersonality can be achieved only when poet surrenders himself completely to the work that is to be done. And the poet can know what is to be done , only if he acquires a sense of tradition, the historic sense, which makes him conscious, not only of the present, but also of the present moment of the past, not only of what is dead, but of what is already living. Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected]

7. “ we can only say the a poem in some case, has its own life; that it parts from something quite different from a body of neatly covered biographical data. That the feeling or emotion or vision in the mind of the poet” ( T he Sacred Wood) The Poet and Poetry are two separate things. Focuses attention not upon the poet but upon the poetry. The work of art is to be regarded as an organism, alive with a life of its own. Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Poet and Poetry are Different Entities

8. Addressing Eliot uses the first person singular pronoun in most of his poems. For instance, Eliot’s “ The Waste Land” encompasses the first-person singular pronouns ( I, my, me) enormously, except the fourth section of the poem “Death by Water” which does not involve any of the first-person pronoun. In “Ash Wednesday” the first-person pronoun singular pronouns are present from the opening lines. But the speaker in Eliot’s “Ash Wednesday” refers to the poet himself indirectly as the poem reflects his religious vision of life and God, but Eliot utilizes the persona as mask to avoid self expression. In Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”, the first-persons are used three times. Similarly, in Eliot’s early poetry collections Prufrock and Other Observations and Ariel Poems, the first-person singular pronouns are found in many poems. Exploring impersonality in Eliot’s poetry through tracking the use of the first-person singular pronouns is not highly reliable because the poet may use a technique of a “ persona” as the speaker in the poem. In Eliot’s “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock . Eliot (1957) says” The first voice is the voice of the poet talking to himself or to nobody. The second is the voice of the poet addressing an audience, whether large or small. The third is the voice of of the poet when he attempts to create a dramatic character speaking in verse; when he is saying, not what he would say in his own person, but only what he can say within the limits of one imaginary character addressing another imaginary character. Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected]

9. T. S Eliot’s “The Waste Land” begins, with a description of a cruel spring, cruel to disturb, dull, dry land content to sleep, to die. Life and, surely, personality are the moisture missing in this waste land. But why, then, am I haunted from the first line with personality? There are several reasons, but one of them is that the base of personal pronouns awakens a sense of personal engagement. First the reader seems to be involved in “you” and “us” and “we”. The reader needs not involve himself – the personal pronouns clearly refer to others instead. It doesn’t matter. The sense of participation persists. Besides, a personal aside: “ Corne in under the shadow of this red rock” This line justifies the reader in his presumption. Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] Examples

10. More Examples “If you came this way. Taking the route you would be likely to take From the place you would be likely to come from….” “Across the open field, leaving the deep lane Shuttered with branches, dark in the afternoon, Where you lean against a bank while a van passes,…” Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected]

11. GOOD LUCK Course: Literary Criticism II ENG- 332 – Instructor: Siraj Khan, Lecturer in English, Department of English KUST- Email: [email protected] Topic : T.S Eliot’s Theory of Impersonality in Poetry