English literature made easy - GCE A/L
 

Eliot's use of fine rhythm highlighting the "plasticity of rhythm" His stresses are natural bringing out the meaning of the word in a profound manner. Eliot has expressed his own views of man becoming a worshipper of "Mechanical rocess",

T.S. Eliot was born in America in 1888 but lived and worked in England. Eliot was a shining poet and a prominent figure in the field of English poetry. Eliot and Ezra Pound are considered as the pioneers of the school of modern poets.

Eliot being a distinguished poet, with his poetic genius inherent in him cut out a colossal figure. Eliot preferred the langu age of common speech taking incidents and subjects from every "sphere of human experience" Eliot became a reputed poet with the publication of "the Waste Land", a longer poem whose tragic vision was a world that had lost its traditional values and found nothing meaningful to replace them with" (Angela Hussain) His poetic drama "The murder in the Cathedral" describing the killing of Thomas a Beckett is highly applauded.

"The Family Re-union" with the echoes of the Agamemnon myth, "The Cocktail Party" being West End hits. His delightful book of light verse known as "old Possum's Book of Practical cats" won public applause.

"The Four Quartets" is divided into four complete poems. The theme of this poem is expressed and highlighted through imagery. Children's laughter, love, man as a traveller and man's traditional values. "The river and the sea represent natural forces over which man has no control and which he must respect forces which sustain and destroy life" (Angela Hussain).

Eliot's use of fine rhythm highlighting the "plasticity of rhythm" His stresses are natural bringing out the meaning of the word in a profound manner. Eliot has expressed his own views of man becoming a worshipper of "Mechanical Process", forgetting power of the emotions and having too much faith in his "intellectual Attainment." The dramatic climax lies in the lines from "implacable" to "watching and waiting."

"By the dwellers in cities - ever, however implacable," :By worshippers of the machine but waiting watching and waiting." "The Dry salvages" taking a mature style represents the best poetry of Eliot. water images of the river and the sea embody concepts of creation and destruction as a continuing process, concepts inspired by Hinduism."

"The four quartets" seems to represent the best poetry of T.S. Eliot. The high degree of concentration is produced through concrete images. Avoiding vague phrases, his use of words with stress on the right word, maintaining the conversational rhythm he is accustomed to.

The rhythms and internal rhymes building up the image of the waves rising and breaking. The tied images and free images in Eliot's poetry enhance the theme and meaning of the poem. I.A. Richard (Principles of Literary Criticism) has pointed out that Mr. Eliot's poetry has "occasioned an unusual amount of irritated or enthusiastic bewilderment."

Mrs. C. Ekanayake,
Retd. Specialist Teacher Eng.,
St. Anne's College,
Kurunegala