Animula (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: T. S. Eliot
- First Published: 1929
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, God, Death or dying, Trees, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Resurrection, Soul
The Poem
“Animula” is written in irregularly rhyming iambic pentameter, with only one stanza break that separates the last six lines of the piece from the rest—almost as a brief litany. The title may have been suggested by a prayer of Hadrian to his soul, but T. S. Eliot began with his own adaptation of a line in Dante’s Purgatario XVI, “There comes from his hand, like a wayfarer…the simple soul.” Dante’s “anima” is compared to a seeker of God who is deflected by daily trifles and follies.
Almost like the questing hero described by mythology...
[The entire page is 1077 words long]
