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T.S Eliot Evidence TableThe Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, 1910Preludes, 1917Rhapsody on a Windy Night, 1911The Hollow Men, 1925Journey of the Magi, 1927Fragmentation- Fragmented?narratives, on the other hand, jumble up the sequencing of a?story, challenging the reader to piece together the different components of the?story?to make sense of it.?Fragmented?narratives can start in the middle of the action, and they often hop back and forth through the timeline of events. (Number Sequences)Stream of Consciousness- In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator.Contextual references- WWI, industrialisation, gradual separation of the Church from institutions occurring, technology, globalisation, colonialism.Modernist Literature- A response to the 20th Century, reflects or is defined by a sense of strangeness or urgency.The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock 1910TechniqueExampleEffectCritical TheoryLoss of Religion/ MoralityBiblical allusion“But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought upon a platter”Late in the poem, Prufrock compares himself to John the Baptist, an important biblical figure who baptized Jesus Christ. John is beheaded at the request of Salome, King Herod’s daughter. In the biblical story, John’s head is brought in on a platter as a trophy for Salome. The parenthetical remark in the middle of Prufrock’s comparison signals the self-conscious irony involved in his comparing himself to a Christian prophet. The primary function of the allusion is to dramatize this point: whereas John the Baptist was concerned with great, historical matters, Prufrock is concerned with trivialities such as his own hair loss. And the decline of religious faith in Prufrock’s era may be part of what prevents him from grappling with such great matters or embodying the piety of John.Nietzsche ‘God is Dead’The death of God didn’t strike Nietzsche as an entirely good thing. Without a God, the basic belief system of Western?Europe?was in jeopardy, as he put it in?Twilight of Idols:?“When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident… Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole.”Mortality/DeathMetonym“I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas”Ragged claws metonym for crab. The use of this crustacean as a symbol of growing old and futile. The use of the crab, especially, conjures images of futility, of moving slowly and with great difficulty- images also associated with the process of aging and approaching death. In a colloquial sense, this image of the crab brings to mind the idea of “crabbiness” or ill-tempered petulance that is also often linked to growing old and senile. Prufrock comes to realise his own mortality and insignificance in modern life. Crabs are the scavengers of the sea; romantic imagery is subverted.Robert F Fleissner“Eliot’s narrators grapple with their mortality and the inevitability of death in a world where the ideas of existentialism and nihilism are seamlessly interwoven.”AlienationCumulation of adjectivesFragmentation in numbered segments (alienates reader)“Certain half-deserted streets… restless one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants”Evokes Eliot’s perspective on urban alienation. With an industrialised and modernised society, humanity is detached and the persona of Prufrock is alienated.He portrays the city roads as “half deserted streets” which might have been filled with multitudes of people but as they all appear strangers, he finds the streets deserted and lonely.He critiques “cheap hotels”, “sawdust restaurants”, “yellow fog” which signal to the corruption, pollution, and prostitution in the city. He observes the happenings of the diverse city as an outsider and cannot find anyone with whom he can be intimate. As a result, he becomes lonely.Maria Magher“Closely related to the questions of self in Eliot’s work was a sense of urban alienation. Without that strong sense of meaning or environment, Eliot’s protagonists express a deeply disturbing sense of being disconnected.”MundaneModernity/ Disillusionment/ TimeMetaphor and Objective Correlative Simile and contrast“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons”“…spread against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table”Quote is a metaphor for the passing of time being measured in mundane actions and common social rituals. Modern life traps individuals in a mundane cycle and prevents individuals from taking any real action.Further portrays the idea of disillusionment as it is realised that the exciting promise of the 20th Century and the industrial era has only resulted in mundane lives for individuals and that society has not progressed.Suggests that time is measured subjectively.Spread against… the sterility of modern life is contrasted with nature.Henri Bergson Theory of DurationBergson believed that time is subjective and should be measured based on the experiences of the individual rather than as a continuous line. Thus, when mundane life occurs, time does not progress for the individual and one is then stuck in a cycle.The Hollow Men 1925TechniqueExampleEffectCritical TheoryLoss of Religion/ MoralityRepetition/motif and biblical allusion“The eyes are not here There are no eyes here In this valley of dying stars The hollow valley This broken jaw of our lost kingdom”Repetition of ‘they eyes’ demonstrate that the Hollow Men are afraid of both divine and moral judgement.The jaw refers to the biblical story of Samson who killed 1000 of his enemies with the jawbone of a donkey. This resulted in him losing his status as leader as it broke his Nazarite vow. Nation leaders broke religious ideas (like 10 commandments) throughout course of WWI. The Hollow Men reject religious ideals yet conform to their narratives of corruption, the loss of morale and civilisation. As the Hollow Men represent political leaders of the period, the use of the biblical tale reflects the death of many men and soldiers during WWI and the lack of moral compass and consideration leaders showed for their lives.Nietzsche ‘God is Dead’The death of God didn’t strike Nietzsche as an entirely good thing. Without a God, the basic belief system of Western?Europe?was in jeopardy, as he put it in?Twilight of Idols:?“When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident… Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole.”Mortality/DeathBinary opposites and paradox“Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion”Binary opposites and paradox suggest that the Hollow Men exist as a physical entity but lack soul or mental substance. Eliot discusses that death transcends the death of the physical state and rather the soul can die. Paralysis of the soul is explored and compared to ‘limbo’, as the individuals are not between heaven and hell and are further caught between life and death. The world is essential devoid of life and life is meaningless. Eliot explores both the physical and mental capabilities of death.Robert F Fleissner“Eliot’s narrators grapple with their mortality and the inevitability of death in a world where the ideas of existentialism and nihilism are seamlessly interwoven.”AlienationSimile and auditory sibilance of prayer“Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass”This quote demonstrates the lack of substance the Hollow Men have. Simile demonstrates the emptiness of their existence.Quote promotes alienation as despite their existence together they are alienated from each other as their experience is meaningless and amounts to nothing. Their attempts are hollow. Furthermore, the Hollow Men are alienated from the common man as their live and value ideas from the upper, corrupt class.The Hollow Men are out of touch with reality, regardless of their attempts.Maria Magher“Closely related to the questions of self in Eliot’s work was a sense of urban alienation. Without that strong sense of meaning or environment, Eliot’s protagonists express a deeply disturbing sense of being disconnected.”MundaneModernity/Disillusionment/TimeAnaphora and tortology“This is dead land This is cactus land”Desert imagery suggests the lifeless and sterile nature of the modern world. The use of anaphora and tortology amplifies the extent to which the modern world is barren and lacking in substance.Infertile imagery used to depict the inability of modern life to reconcile with the grievous past of WWI.Further suggests that in the modern world, a new era, new ideas or new life cannot be born as social, political and cultural conditions prevent this from occurring.Henri Bergson Theory of DurationBergson believed that time is subjective and should be measured based on the experiences of the individual rather than as a continuous line. Thus, when mundane life occurs, time does not progress for the individual and one is then stuck in a cycle.Journey of the Magi 1927TechniqueExampleEffectCritical TheoryLoss of Religion/ MoralityBiblical allusion“Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver And feet kiking the empty wine-skins”In a world where the Magi search for a religious leader and conversions, others have abandoned religion and have consequently lost their morality.Symbol of betrayal of religion and desire for material items such as wealth. Judas betrayed Jesus just as modern life has betrayed religion in favour of wealth and materialism. Religion has been abandoned and consequently, morality has become corrupt. Modern society has abandoned a desire for spiritual wealth. Nietzsche ‘God is Dead’The death of God didn’t strike Nietzsche as an entirely good thing. Without a God, the basic belief system of Western?Europe?was in jeopardy, as he put it in?Twilight of Idols:?“When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident… Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole.”Mortality/DeathPathetic fallacy and natural imagery“A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the yearFor a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.”Winter and the cold are synonymous with death, death of nature etc, with the weather of spring following be representative of re-birth.Eliot uses natural imagery to convey his journey of conversion into the Church of England.‘Dead of winter’ is used in order to portray the death of the old religion he practiced.Thus, Eliot discusses the death of the spiritual self in order to undergo a sense of cleansing and convert into a religion and a new era.Robert F Fleissner“Eliot’s narrators grapple with their mortality and the inevitability of death in a world where the ideas of existentialism and nihilism are seamlessly interwoven.”AlienationMetaphor and reification.“We return to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods”Reification of Kingdoms, non-proper known capitalised suggests specific modern realm that is universal.After conversion, the Magi return to meet ‘alien’ people. Rather than society being completely alienation, their decision to go against the norm by following the journey of conversion alienates them. They have seen and acquired more knowledge than those they live with and thus ‘no longer feel at ease’ in their Kingdoms.Disconnect between the spiritually evolved or altered and the alien ideas of the past and old religions.Maria Magher“Closely related to the questions of self in Eliot’s work was a sense of urban alienation. Without that strong sense of meaning or environment, Eliot’s protagonists express a deeply disturbing sense of being disconnected.”MundaneModernity/Disillusionment/TimeAnaphora and metonym“And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices”Other Eliot texts explore the mundane nature of modern life. However, Magi explored the corrupt and isolated nature of modern life. Night-fires going out demonstrates the lack of willingness of modern society to help others.Modern life exists as a continuous cycle of excluding others and corruption. Evident in all modern cities.Henri Bergson Theory of DurationBergson believed that time is subjective and should be measured based on the experiences of the individual rather than as a continuous line. Thus, when mundane life occurs, time does not progress for the individual and one is then stuck in a cycle.Preludes 1917TechniqueExampleEffectCritical TheoryAlienationObjective correlative“burnt-out ends of smoky days,” “grimy scraps,” “withered leaves,” “broken blinds,”The narrator of the Preludes exists as an observer, taking note of the reality of urban life. As the narrator does not interact with individuals, but rather observes the grimy and decrepit aspects of the city, he is alienated from nature and people.Furthermore, the destructive and grimy nature of urban life reveals the way in which the early 20th century society was disconnected from the natural world.The images work together to promote the mundane, cyclical and distant reality of urban life.Maria Magher“Closely related to the questions of self in Eliot’s work was a sense of urban alienation. Without that strong sense of meaning or environment, Eliot’s protagonists express a deeply disturbing sense of being disconnected.”MundaneModernity/Disillusionment/TimeCumulative listing“Six o’clock… At four and five and six o’clock”In the final prelude, time multiplies to “four and five and six o’clock,” seemingly all at once, but the human actions are nevertheless identical and thoughtless, ignoring both the divine nature of the “infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering” sky above them, and the dirty street below them. This infinite nature of God contrasts with the mechanical clock time of the industrial city.The cumulative list of times contributes to an anxious feeling of time passing, yet urban life fails to progress emotionally and socially. Thus, time for the individual experience is stagnant and modern life continues to be mundane.Henri Bergson Theory of DurationBergson believed that time is subjective and should be measured based on the experiences of the individual rather than as a continuous line. Thus, when mundane life occurs, time does not progress for the individual and one is then stuck in a cycle.Mortality/DeathContrast and personification“And then the lighting of the lamps… And the light crept up between the shutters”Rather than focusing on the death of human life, Preludes explores the death of the natural world and its replacement with an urban and artificial landscape. Contextually, the urbanisation of Paris had occurred (where Eliot studied) and lamps became essential in streets. Natural and artificial light have a tense relationship in Preludes. As the evening falls, lamplighters ritualistically light the streetlamps, continuing the evening on past the natural diurnal cycle. Sunlight is personified as a sneaky subject who “creeps” and is blocked by shutters. This is symbolic of humanity resisting the natural world and willingly killing it with the urban landscape as even a large and natural energy source can be substituted with lamps.Robert F Fleissner“Eliot’s narrators grapple with their mortality and the inevitability of death in a world where the ideas of existentialism and nihilism are seamlessly interwoven.”Rhapsody on a Windy Night 1911TechniqueExampleEffectCritical TheoryMemoryMetaphor, simile, literary allusion, binary opposites“Midnight shakes the memory As a madman shakes a dead geranium”This suggests that the night is violently agitating the speaker’s memories, as if it could shake them back into an understandable form. However, there’s no point in shaking a dead geranium—it’s a futile action, as the madman shaking it does not realize.A geranium represents ‘nobility’ in Victorian floriography. The madman shaking a dead geranium could refer to an attachment to previous structures of power.Time and memory play tricks on the brain. The unstoppable passage of time means all life must die, and memory is a way of trying to keep things alive for a while. Yet ultimately shaking up memories as a means to hold onto life is as useless as shaking a dead flower; for one thing, memory is unreliable and has a logic of its own. More importantly, memory is rooted in the past—meaning memory by default represents time passing by.The image of a geranium is common in the work of French symbolist Jules LaForgue.F.H Bradley“Memory is plainly a construction from the ground of the present. It is throughout inferential and is certainly fallible; and its gross mistakes as to past personal existence should be very well known.”AlienationSimile"Regard that woman Who hesitates towards you in the light of the door Which opens on her like a grin"The woman in the doorway (at this hour, perhaps a prostitute) doesn’t approach; she ‘hesitates towards him’. Even she cannot make the necessary contact for a human act.The simile of ‘light of the door which opens on her like a grin’, conveys that even in the artificial urban environment conveys greater emotion and communication than humans who suffer the repercussions of an industrial and urban environment. Furthermore, the imagery of artificial light is present, thus revealing how the urban environment is present everywhere and consequently amplifies the sense of alienation and lack of communication.Maria Magher“Closely related to the questions of self in Eliot’s work was a sense of urban alienation. Without that strong sense of meaning or environment, Eliot’s protagonists express a deeply disturbing sense of being disconnected.”MundaneModernity/Disillusionment/TimeQuincuncial Ordination, motif“Twelve o’clock… Half-past one the street-lamp sputtered… Half-past two… the street-lamp said”The poem is marked by the passage time, with five stanzas beginning with a statement of the hour. The structural use of quincuncial ordination that is marked with time signifiers, creates a sense of anxiety, of life is slipping away. Memory and time are depicted to be inextricable from each other and that they almost have a life of their own.Furthermore, as physical time progresses, the narrator does not progress or grow to understand his surroundings. Thus portraying Bergson’s idea that physical time and personal experience do not coincide. Clock time is marked at the beginning of each stanza and relates to the unnatural urban light of the streetlamps. This invokes a contrasting motif of natural time and light.Henri Bergson Theory of DurationBergson believed that time is subjective and should be measured based on the experiences of the individual rather than as a continuous line. Thus, when mundane life occurs, time does not progress for the individual and one is then stuck in a cycle.Mortality/DeathObjective correlative and motif“A twisted branch upon the beach, Eaten smooth, and polished As if the world gave up The secret of its skeleton… An old crab with barnacles on his back, Gripped the end of a stick”Objective correlative is used in order to consistently portray the protagonists fear of mortality and growing age. The speaker's memories themselves directly link to atrophy and death. The branch—once part of a living tree—evokes a skeleton, having been whittled away over time into a stark reminder of mortality. (s2)The use of this crustacean as a symbol of growing old and futile. The use of the crab, especially, conjures images of futility, of moving slowly and with great difficulty- images also associated with the process of aging and approaching death. (s5)Robert F Fleissner“Eliot’s narrators grapple with their mortality and the inevitability of death in a world where the ideas of existentialism and nihilism are seamlessly interwoven.” ................
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