T. S. Eliot Questions and Answers
T. S. Eliot
What is the meaning of this statement by T.S. Eliot? "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all...
This statement is from T.S. Eliot’s poem “Little Gidding”, which is the last set of poems in Four Quartets. “Little Gidding” was first published in 1942 and was Eliot’s argument for humanity’s need...
T. S. Eliot
Why is T. S. Eliot regarded as an important poet/writer?
T.S. Eliot is regarded as such an important writer because he captured the feelings and attitudes of the early twentieth century in such a unique and, yet, authentic way. His poem, "The Love Song...
T. S. Eliot
What does T.S. Eliot mean when he says,"Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far one can go"
Essentially, this is an advocation to the reader to challenge him or herself. Eliot is saying that we are always capable of more than we think we are. Only those who are willing to keep going to a...
T. S. Eliot
In the poem "To the Indian who Died in Africa" by T.S.Eliot, "A man has no home but a purpose." How? How does this...
This line is not actually present in the poem, but I will attempt to answer it anyway. The speaker of the poem is discussing the difference between destination and destiny. If a man dies in battle...
T. S. Eliot
What impact did T. S. Eliot have in the modernist movement?
T.S. Eliot was influential both as a poet and as a literary critic during the first half of the twentieth-century. Much of his work is a seminal force in the modernist movement, and he was highly...
T. S. Eliot
How we can say that T. S. Eliot is a modern poet?
Eliot's early poetry could certainly be described as modern in that he was actively responding to changes in Western society that took place after the First World War. Many of the old certainties...
T. S. Eliot
Why does T. S. Eliot matter in the twenty-first century?
As with all great artists, the appeal of T. S. Eliot is timeless. More than any other poet of his day and age, he pushed back the boundaries of what poetry was capable of, showing us a different...
T. S. Eliot
The representation of modern society in T. S. Eliot's poetry: The poetry of T. S. Eliot presents us with a portrait...
I agree that T. S. Eliot's poetry presents a modern world that is full of darkness and despair. Many of his works describe everyday situations through the lens of misery. One example of this is in...
T. S. Eliot
What is Eliot's impersonal theory of poetry?
As a poet, T. S. Eliot is known for his monumental, if few, works of sprawling and satirical verse. However, lesser known in the mainstream world is Eliot as the literary critic. The theory in your...
T. S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot states that "poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the...
For T.S. Eliot and certainly other poets, writing poetry can indeed be an escape from emotion and personality. For others, poetry is actually a way to process their emotions and demonstrate who...
T. S. Eliot
how is fragmentation used in Preludes compared to how it is used in the love song of J.Alfred Prufrock and the hollow...
It's difficult to respond to this question without seeming to express a critique of Eliot's verse that is not entirely positive. However, since Eliot has held an iconic status in the literary and...
T. S. Eliot
What is the link between Eliot’s style and vision of his contemporary age and that of the Modernist poets?
T. S. Eliot was one of the leading voices of Modernism and was close to the center of its complex web of reciprocal influences. At the beginning of his career, Eliot often took advice from the poet...
T. S. Eliot
Comment on the achievements of T.S.Eliot as a critic.
T. S. Eliot's most sustained and comprehensive statement of his own theories of literary criticism can be found in The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920). In this work, Eliot...
T. S. Eliot
Discuss the meaning of the following quote: "Genuine poetry can communicate before it's understood."
T.S. Eliot's quote strikes at a couple of points that he embodied in his work. The first is that there is not really an objective set of criteria that facilitates the communication of poetry....
T. S. Eliot
How can we compare Eliot to Joyce, to Orwell, and to Beckett?
Compare Eliot to JoyceEliot and Joyce compare favorably in that each was innovative and experimental, bringing new styles or forms to English literature. They contrast in that Eliot was prolific in...
T. S. Eliot
Analyze the rhythm in T.S Eliot's poem "Virginia."
The poem "Virginia," like the river it depicts, moves steadily onwards. It flows consistently from beginning to end. In seeking to capture the unique rhythms of the river's movement, Eliot resorts...
T. S. Eliot
According to Eliot's essay "The Function of Criticism," what are the tools and function of criticism? What is the...
T. S. Eliot's "The Function of Criticism" puts forth the thesis that effective critics should shun interpretation as a tool of criticism, because interpretation is always from the critic's...
T. S. Eliot
What themes are T.S Eliot trying to convey with his poem "Landscape?"
In T.S. Eliot's "Landscape" are the many images of nature, especially birds. There are about seventeen kinds of birds here. There is also the images are of children playing, a deer hunt, and...
T. S. Eliot
How did T. S. Eliot's religious transition to Anglicanism affect his poetry? Give examples citing "Hollow Men" and...
T.S. Eliot is perhaps best known for his long poem The Waste Land, published in 1922, which focuses on the alienation and aimlessness of the post-World War I generation. "The Hollow Men," a much...
T. S. Eliot
Why does the narrator of T. S. Eliot's poem "Marina" say "let me/ Resign my life for this life ..."
T. S. Eliot's poem "Marina" is based on a play by William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. In this play, the protagonist Pericles survives a rather improbable series of shipwrecks. In the...
T. S. Eliot
Analysis of "The Metaphysical Poets" by T.S. Eliot.
T.S. Eliot's "The Metaphysical Poets" was first published as a review of J.C. Grierson's Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the 17th Century. T.S. Eliot did far more than just review Grierson's book,...
T. S. Eliot
How does Eliot distinguish between the intellectual poet and the reflective poet in his essay "The Metaphysical Poets"?
The primary distinction between the intellectual poet and the reflective poet in "The Metaphysical Poets" by T. S. Eliot is the capacity to think versus the capacity to feel. He gives the example...
T. S. Eliot
What is the original text for the excerpted quote: "There is no vocabulary / For love within a family..."?
For love within a family, love that's lived inBut not looked at, love within the light of whichAll else is seen, the love within whichAll other love finds speech.This love is silent. T.S. Eliot...
T. S. Eliot
Comment on the wood thrush image in T.S. Eliot's "Marina"
A wood thrush is a bird common in the Northeastern part of the United States; it is known for its "loud clear song." In the poem, Eliot refers to hearing the wood thrush "singing through the fog"....
T. S. Eliot
To what extent is this claim true of T. S. Eliot's poetry?: "Literature forces us to ask questions and look for...
This statement is very true of Eliot's poetry. Let's take a closer look. Poems like "Preludes," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" raise questions about modern...
T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot praises Donne's ability to unify the intellectual thought and sensation of feeling. Why? T. S. Eliot's...
I haven't read T.S. Eliot's essay "The Metaphysical Poets" (1921) in quite a long time and had to review it briefly to make sure I wasn't completely off base, but I recall Eliot's argument to be...
T. S. Eliot
Compare T. S. Eliot’s views to Virginia Woolf’s ideas and explain common points if there are any.
T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf have been sharply criticized by successive generations of scholars and critics for their unashamed elitism. These two representatives of the modernist movement came...
T. S. Eliot
Comment on the language of T S Eliot in terms of language use and creating pattern.
T.S. Eliot was innovative in his use of language and developed unique methods for evoking emotion in the reader. Three examples are negative words that belie a cheery tone; classical and other...
T. S. Eliot
Write a detailed essay on T. S. Eliot's critique of Shakespeare in his works.
Although T. S. Eliot admired William Shakespeare and commented on his irreplaceable influence on English literature, he also took a strongly critical stance toward Shakespeare’s works. Especially...
T. S. Eliot
What is an analysis of the theories and main points of T. S. Eliot's essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent"?
T. S. Eliot's essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent" is a seminal piece of literary criticism. Its main point is that poets cannot, in fact, produce wholly original work, but rather contribute...
T. S. Eliot
How are time and place used in Eliot’s poetry to shape the reader's intellectual and emotional response?
In "Little Gidding," the last of the Four Quartets, Eliot seeks to transcend the sense of time and place which were of such singular importance in the previous three poems. This is entirely in...
T. S. Eliot
Are there any literary devices in this poem? I need to analize a poem, and it needs to have two literary devices. I...
If you have been assigned to analyze a poem strictly on its literary devices, you will not be analyzing the poetic devices (such as sound elements, rhyme, rhythm, repetition). You should be aware...
T. S. Eliot
What are the images of movement and sight in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Hollow Men" by T. S....
As a modernist poet, T. S. Eliot uses imagery to convey themes and carry meaning. Both poems explore the idea that modern life is experienced as futility, through the disintegration of meaning...
T. S. Eliot
What is the mythical method T. S. Eliot describes in his essay “Ulysses, Order, and Myth”?
In his review of James Joyce's Ulysses entitled “Ulysses, Order, and Myth,” T. S. Eliot presents the mythical method of modern literature that he sees operative in the work under review. Eliot...
T. S. Eliot
"Life you may evade, Death you shall not." - T.S. Eliot What exactly does he mean by the first part?
You can be a recluse from life by not really doing much. However, everyone is going to die eventually. To me, this means that you might as well live your life, because you are not going to be...
T. S. Eliot
What does T. S. Eliot say about the poet being the least poetical of beings in his essay "Tradition and the...
In his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent," what T. S. Eliot says about the poet being the least poetical of beings links to his idea that it’s not the person that’s important but their...
T. S. Eliot
Describe the term "objective correlative" as used by T. S. Eliot.
According to T. S. Eliot, “objective correlative” refers to a “set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion” that a writer wants to share...
T. S. Eliot
List and explain the poetic devices Eliot employs in "Whispers of Immortality."
The poem employs several allusions: references to other people, places, texts, events, and so on. The speaker refers to John Webster and John Donne, both writers who pondered death in their works...
T. S. Eliot
What meaningful questions about life does Eliot pose in his poems "Preludes," “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,”...
In poems like “Preludes,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Journey of the Magi,” “Rhapsody on a Windy Night,” and “The Hollow Men,” T. S. Eliot presents his readers with more questions...
T. S. Eliot
I want the Critical Appriciation of the Poem " To the Indian Who Died in Africa " ...by ...T.S.Eliot.
This just means that you have to decide whether or not you like the poem, then you have to support your feelings with solid literary reasons. Here are some things to consider: Do you identify with...
T. S. Eliot
What is 'dissociation of sensibility', which is a term coined by T. S. Eliot?
T.S. Eliot first coined the phrase in his essay, 'The Metaphysical Poets' which was a literary criticism. The argument that he put forth was that cultivation of emotion and thought separately as...
T. S. Eliot
Comment on the following statement: "Not to know T.S. Eliot is to be ignorant of how poetry has affected modern life."
T. S. Eliot is often considered one of the most important – and also one of the most emblematic – literary figures of the twentieth century. As a leading proponent and practitioner of literary...
T. S. Eliot
What is the significance of the vocative "my daughter" in T. S. Eliot's "Marina"?
The vocative "my daughter" in "Marina" is, in my opinion, the speaker's ship or boat. It is rather difficult to tell, but the poem suggests that the speaker is a sailor in all aspects of the word....
T. S. Eliot
"A Soldier has no home but a purpose". How far is this statement applicable in the context of the poem "To the...
The poem "To the Indians Who Died in Africa" is written in the voice of a British soldier speaking to soldiers from the Indian subcontinent. This suggests that the British soldier may have been the...
T. S. Eliot
What are some common themes and poetic techniques in the poems "Preludes" and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night"?
T. S. Eliot was a modernist poet who often employed the technique of "stream-of-consciousness" writing in his poetry. To explain, modernist writers tended to be disillusioned and upset with the...
T. S. Eliot
What does the term "objective correlative" mean according to T. S. Eliot?
T.S. Eliot developed his idea of the objective correlative, the way in which an author arouses emotion in the audience, in his 1919 essay, "Hamlet and His Problems." Eliot wrote: The only way of...
T. S. Eliot
Give a detailed analysis of form, structure, language, and themes in T. S. Eliot's poem "Whispers of Immortality."
T. S. Eliot's "Whispers of Immortality" is a poem of eight quatrains, divided into two parts of fours quatrains each. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, with some use of slant rhyme. The meter is generally...
T. S. Eliot
Write a note of 150 words on "dissociation of sensibility."
During the 17th century, according to Eliot's hypothesis, a gap opened up in Western culture between thought and feeling. This was largely a by-product of the dawning of the Age of Reason, the...
T. S. Eliot
How is the theme of universal brotherhood expressed in T. S. Eliot's poem "To the Indians who died in Africa"?
The theme of universal brotherhood is one which rejects all racial, social, religious, economic or other forms of classification or heirarchy, and instead makes the argument that all men are of one...
T. S. Eliot
How are people isolated from society according to time and place in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The...
"Prufrock" shows isolation from society according to a specific time and place: London in the early 20th century. The narrator describes having much time for trivial matters, stating There will...
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