Essay Questions

Show how Eliot was an influential figure in the modernist movement?

T.S. Eliot is a modernist writer who was extremely influential in his time. He disregarded Victorian elements and transgressed the boundaries set by his literary precursors. His approach to writing influenced artists like Philip Larkin who went ahead to become famous writers. He also uses the themes of self-reflexivity and isolation of man in the society. This man, in some cases happens to be an artist. Such an introspection of the artist's role in the society became a recurrent theme in the modernist era.

How do Eliot’s poems show the position of the artist in the society?

The poems of Eliot often bend towards self-introspection with autobiographical elements and explore the place and role of the artist in the society. His themes often cover the idea of isolation and fragmentation as well as hopelessness in a cosmopolitan world. In a poem like The Journey of the Magi, the hardships faced by the magus can be compared to that of an artist. The Magus is stuck in a world that is changing, much like the artist was in the modernist era.

What are the characteristics of the poems of Eliot?

The works of Eliot like The Wasteland and The journey of The Magi reject Victorian ideas and delineate abstract situations, covering fragmented stanzas and interpolating deeply intellectual allusions into the work. His works also possess symbolist elements and extensive Christian allusions.

How is Eliot a symbolist poet? Explain using one poem as an example.

Symbolism is essentially the characterization of a much larger idea with a single symbol. Such symbols are consistent in the works of Eliot. Many of his poems has profound use of, often but not limited to, Biblical symbols. One such example is The Journey of the Magi which has an extensive use of symbols. In the poem, winter symbolizes isolation and hardship. It also has a lot of biblical allusions as symbols along the journey. these symbols come together to tell a fragmented but coherent tale of the journey.