Concetti Chiave
- Eliot's poetry introduces a new technique that emphasizes objective impersonality, contrasting with the emotion-driven Romantic Poetry.
- He developed the theory of the "objective correlative," where emotions are conveyed through objects and actions rather than direct statements.
- His work is heavily influenced by tradition, incorporating symbols, quotations, and allusions from various literatures, making it complex to interpret.
- Eliot's style is shaped by influences such as Ezra Pound's Imagism, which advocates for replacing words with images, and French Symbolists' use of free verse.
- He draws inspiration from historical figures, including John Donne's complex metaphysical poetry and Dante as a model for comparing hell with modern life.
Eliot's poetic technique
His poetry breaks away from all canons and it is based on a new poetic technique advocating an objective impersonality of art. So poetry is seen as an escape from emotion and subjectivity which is the opposite of Romantic Poetry seen as “emotion recollected in tranquillity” (Wordsworth).
That is why he worked out the theory of the objective correlative (used in Italy by Montale) that is conveying an emotion without a direct statement but through something suggesting feelings (ex: The loveless seduction of a typist by her lover in the Fire Sermon of the Waste Land, suggesting the squalor and lack of passion of his present age). Thus Eliot does not describe an emotion, but the object and the action so that an emotion is produced in the reader. Therefore, poetry must be objective and impersonal and images are the objective correlative of emotions. Images aim at suggesting the exterior object which will evoke an emotion in the reader more effectively than the description of the emotion itself.
Tradition and universality
Eliot stressed the importance of tradition since past and present coexist and past is an active part of present. That is why his poetry is universal, full of symbols, quotations, allusions from various literatures and for this reason very difficult to understand, decode and decipher.
· Ezra Pound and the Imagists –-> to replace words with images
· French Symbolists –-> free verse; use of juxtaposition of opposites (ex: squalid elements and poetic ones)
· John Donne and the Metaphysical poets à complex poetry
· Dante à his best model to compare hell and modern life.
Domande da interrogazione
- How does Eliot's poetic technique differ from Romantic Poetry?
- What is the theory of the objective correlative in Eliot's poetry?
- Why is Eliot's poetry considered universal and complex?
Eliot's poetry emphasizes objective impersonality, viewing poetry as an escape from emotion and subjectivity, contrasting with Romantic Poetry's focus on "emotion recollected in tranquillity" as described by Wordsworth.
The objective correlative is a technique where emotions are conveyed indirectly through objects and actions, rather than direct statements, allowing readers to experience emotions through suggested feelings, as seen in "The Waste Land."
Eliot's poetry is universal due to its integration of tradition, symbols, and allusions from various literatures, making it complex and challenging to understand, decode, and decipher.
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