T.

S ELIOT AS A MAJOR MODERN POET

A MODERN OVERVIEW OF T.S ELIOT
 Thomas Stearns Eliot  (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was
a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.
 Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-
language Modernist poetry.
 T.S Eliot is considered as one of the most important modernist poets and he himself believed
that he will become something extraordinary that everyone can inhale the essence and aroma
of his works in the coming time
 The content of his poem as well as his poetic style give elements of the modern movement that
was famous during his time.
 " Modernism was also mainly represented by orientation towards fragmentation, free verse,
contradictory allusions and multiple points of view different from the Victorian and Romantic
writing.
 These modern features appear greatly in the works of Eliot.
 Two of the most prominent poems where Eliot shows his modern orientations are "The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land."
 The poems' content and style reflect the modern life, especially in its influence on the individual.
 He has put the essence of love and hope, most important the realism, in his poems which makes
him one of the most prominent personality of the modern poetry.

MODERN POETIC WORKS OF TS ELIOT

It would not be wrong to say that Eliot was the leader of the modern poetic movement and he has
contributed as much as a modern poet is supposed to deliver to become a pioneer of the modern
poetry. He has produced a small number of poems but these are full of quality and real emotions. Some
of them are listed below.

1. Marina
2. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
3. Macavity: the Mystery Cat
4. The Waste Land
5. Journey of the Magi
6. The Hollow Men
7. Sweeney Agonistes

1.ELEMENTS OF MODERNISM IN “THE LOVE SONG OF J.ALFRED PRUFROCK”

 As modernism stresses the ideas of pessimism and loneliness, the negative aspects of
modern life are also stressed in this poem.
  In fact, Prufrock seems to be only able see those negative aspects.
 Death is also dominant in the poem showing Prufrock as an insect pinned against the
wall.
 It is even personified as 'the eternal Footman.' What is important is that Prufrock is
viewed as a representative of all modern men.
 He is indecisive. He cannot even decide about eating a peach.
 It is in this sense that the poem is seen as a record of the random thoughts in the mind
of Prufrock which can reflect the mindsets of the people of the modern age.
 Eliot portrayed this element in this poem as, “Also pray for those who were in ships,
and Ended their voyage on the sand,”

2.”The WASTE LAND” AND MODERN ASPECTS

In fact, "The Waste Land," can be considered as a fundamental modernist text.

 The major modernist element found in the poem is the clear reliance on images, which is
a basic characteristic of modern texts.
 The poem shows many fragmented images that reflect the feeling of loss in modern
man.
 Although the reader understands nothing of these images, the narrator promises to show
the reader how to make meaning from fragmentation.
 This construction of meaning from fragmentation is one of the essential features of
modernism.
 ELIOT quotes in The Waste land, ‘Those are pearls that were his eyes’

MODERNISM IN “THE HOLLOW MEN”:

 “The Hollow Men” is an apt example of the modernist style in Eliot’s work, demonstrating
all the core characteristics of Modern age.
 Eliot develops the theme of fragmentation and broken things in the poem by describing
anything surrounding the hollow men as damaged.
 The poem emphasizes spiritual emptiness, entropy, despair and hopelessness.
 Eliot created works deeply reflective of the time after the end of the First World War.
 “The Hollow Men” displays the poet’s conflict with Catholicism, a religion that no longer
lets him, and many others of his contemporaries, find solace within itself.
 Being a modern poet, he had to face the restrictions and limitations but he survived
these hindrances and reflected the true sense of the modern age in his poems.
 He has summarized the whole life in these words is this poem, “This is the way the
world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.”

CONCLUSION
 In short, Eliot made it clear through his literary works that he deserves to be called the pioneer
of the modern poetry.
 He uses many techniques such as imagism, repetition, fragmentation and other modernist
techniques.
 All these techniques help depict the modern life for the reader and reflect its status in real
manner.
 That is why one can easily say that Eliot is considered as one of the most influential modernist
poets in English literature.