Nature Imagery as a Source of Objective Correlative In The Poetry of T. S. Eliot

Abstract

Both as a poet and a critic, Thomas Stearns Eliot has profoundly influenced post-world War I literature. Not only has he conveyed his view of the human condition poetically, but he has articulated the philosophy which shaped h is artistic intention and described the poetic method used to express it. The purpose of this study is to examine how these three aspects of his art are synthesized. The writer contends that T. S. Eliot's artistic intention was to determine and then to convey through poetry what, if anything, constituted order in the universe. In expressing this theme (Which dominates all his major poems), he developed the poetic method described in his criticism--notably the concepts of the "historical sense" and the "objective correlative." Examination of all the major poetry reveals that in nature imagery and the mythology surrounding it, he found symbols for the presence or absence of order in the universe which were at once rooted in tradition and suited to his delineation of contemporary society. Consequently, this study will trace the development of nature imagery as a source of objective correlative throughout the major poems in order to reveal how Eliot transmuted his personal philosophy into poetry, which he described as "something rich and strange, something universal and impersonal." The limitations of this study are threefold. It was necessary to examine Eliot's personal view of life in order to substantiate the position that his major theme evolved from a search for order in the universe which ultimately led him to seek commitment to a divine ordering principle. This examination necessarily had psychological and philosophical overtones, but it is significant in this context only as a means of better understanding how Eliot, the poet, utilized the experiences of Eliot, the man, in achieving his artistic intention. Secondly, by focusing this study on one source of imagery and two aspects of the artist' s poetic method, the writer ran the risk of oversimplification. Other aspects of Eliot' s poetic method, notably his use of form, are necessary to a total understanding and appreciation of his art. This study, then, provides only one approach to a rich and complex body of poetry. Finally, the writer made no attempt at critical evaluation. Rather, the purpose of the thesis is to explicate the major poems in order to illustrate, through an analysis of imagery, how T. S. Eliot synthesized his personal ideas, his artistic philosophy and his poetic method in order to create Poetry. In conclusion, the writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance and encouragement of Dr. Peter Stanlis of the English Department, under whose direction this thesis was undertaken.