T.s. Eliot Christianity And Culture Pdf

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This is certainly an important entry into the discussion about the relationship between Christianity and culture. Eliot, writing in the 1930s from Britain, offers a vision of Christian society that is distinct from the society in which he then lived-in other words, he acknowledges that what once may have been a Christian society had then moved past such a designation. This fact is significant because it forces Christians to grapple with the world as it is, rather than as we imagine it to be.

Christianity And Culture - T. Eliot DOWNLOAD HERE Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely. In particular, T.S Eliot’s Christianity and Culture is a substantial contribution to our understanding of the nature of culture and religion.

Fu This is certainly an important entry into the discussion about the relationship between Christianity and culture. Eliot, writing in the 1930s from Britain, offers a vision of Christian society that is distinct from the society in which he then lived-in other words, he acknowledges that what once may have been a Christian society had then moved past such a designation.

This fact is significant because it forces Christians to grapple with the world as it is, rather than as we imagine it to be. Furthermore, Eliot believes that culture is in constant danger absent a Christian society, and that we would do well to become a Christian society. Eliot does not mean by this that everyone should become Christian, but that we should push toward organizing ourselves around the Christian ideals and symbols that have historically characterized that religion. After sketching 'The Idea of a Christian Society,' in the first essay, Eliot moves on to lay out 'Notes on the Definition of Culture,' in his second, and longer essay. In this essay, Eliot believes that all culture has appeared or developed alongside a religion, thus making culture and religion intertwined. Eliot lays out a number of ideas in this section, from the notion that culture should be thought of in three ways: individual, group, and society. He believes that culture benefits from class structures, as they provide opportunities to transmit information in clearly defined roles and traditions.

Eliot's fear is that without certain structures in society that culture will eventually disintegrate as people lose their connection to their individual and group cultures. Eliot distinguishes between his notion of class and the more offensive idea of a caste system. He believes that all people, when possessing certain genius or ability, should be able to step outside the traditional roles of their class and into other roles. All that said, Eliot has a great appreciation for culture at all levels of society, and that while those of upper classes may have a more broad or delicate sensibility when it comes to culture, all expressions of culture have a certain value to them. The book is a major attempt to interact with the relationship between Christianity and culture, and while it is difficult to see how the ideas might translate outside of the more structured society of Britain, the work does help to give definition to the close relationship between religion and culture, as well as a number of the factors that serve to make up any particular culture. This is really two books in one-the first focuses on the Church and State relationship, the second on defining and discussing a Christian culture. There is much good here, though I found his style made it difficult to follow the thread of his argument.

There are some good, challenging ideas here. For example, he argues against the merits of a classless society, arguing instead that societies should be hierarchical with dynamic classes in tension with one another and people moving in and out of This is really two books in one-the first focuses on the Church and State relationship, the second on defining and discussing a Christian culture. There is much good here, though I found his style made it difficult to follow the thread of his argument. There are some good, challenging ideas here. For example, he argues against the merits of a classless society, arguing instead that societies should be hierarchical with dynamic classes in tension with one another and people moving in and out of a class. This is a good book to understand the cultural changes of the last one hundred years. I recommend it.

Both of these essays are pretty essential reading. In the first, Eliot considers the problem of trying to sustain a Christian society. He sees a lack of a religious establishment a major obstacle to creating and sustaining a Christian social imaginary, though he is not necessarily comfortable with taking any kind of repressive or discriminatory measures, either. Overall, a helpful challenge to think through what we really want when we desire a Christian society. The second essay on culture trace Both of these essays are pretty essential reading. In the first, Eliot considers the problem of trying to sustain a Christian society.

He sees a lack of a religious establishment a major obstacle to creating and sustaining a Christian social imaginary, though he is not necessarily comfortable with taking any kind of repressive or discriminatory measures, either. Overall, a helpful challenge to think through what we really want when we desire a Christian society. The second essay on culture traces the close connection between religion and culture. It was probably because I had such high expectations, but when the author is T.

Eliot one cannot avoid high expectations. In addition, I had read a lot of hype about the book from conservative intellectuals who had found great meaning in Eliot's essays. I really wanted to like it. And, okay, I like it.

There are a few quotes that I've marked and will return to for further thought, but I'm not going to read the book again. What is there has been said before, and better. This book has the same It was probably because I had such high expectations, but when the author is T. Eliot one cannot avoid high expectations. In addition, I had read a lot of hype about the book from conservative intellectuals who had found great meaning in Eliot's essays. I really wanted to like it.

And, okay, I like it. There are a few quotes that I've marked and will return to for further thought, but I'm not going to read the book again. What is there has been said before, and better. This book has the same tone as a rambling journal entry. Eliot goes on and on about how culture has been defined too narrowly.

He defines culture in his own idiosyncratic way to embrace not just education, religion, art, tradition, language and so on, but all of that and more. I would say, in essence, that he is describing culture as if it were the medium in which we live. It is much as a fish would describe water.

A fish could describe water narrowly, as the medium which keeps them afloat, or as the force they feel upon their fins as they adjust their orientation, or as the source of the oxygen they need to survive, but they still would miss a lot. Water is not just present externally in the things that the fish could feel, but internally in their very cells. That's about how Eliot is defining culture, but without my creative metaphor. Eliot says a lot, but doesn't really make a cogent argument about much of it. Even what I thought would be the main point, the relationship between culture and religion, is merely asserted without much explanation and with no proof. He alludes to the books by Christopher Dawson, who wrote extensively and persuasively on the subject, but Eliot doesn't even outline any of Dawson's evidence.

Eliot merely makes the claim that Dawson has proven that religion is the root of all culture and that Christianity is the root of Western Civilization. Unless you are content with the few tidbits of Eliot's point of view in this book, save your time and money, just go read Dawson's books. You'll get much more out of them. In the two sets of essays featured in this volume, Eliot explores the relationship between religion and culture as well as the consequences of this relationship for a post-Christian Europe. The first third or so of the book is a particularly insightful meditation upon the relationship between Christian faith and the cultures of those peoples which adopt it. I happened to be reading Achebe's Things Fall Apart at nearly the same time I read this book, which granted a great deal of insight into the In the two sets of essays featured in this volume, Eliot explores the relationship between religion and culture as well as the consequences of this relationship for a post-Christian Europe. The first third or so of the book is a particularly insightful meditation upon the relationship between Christian faith and the cultures of those peoples which adopt it.

I happened to be reading Achebe's Things Fall Apart at nearly the same time I read this book, which granted a great deal of insight into the dealings of colonialist missionaries with the non-Christian peoples of Africa. Reading these two works in tandem was wonderfully interesting. The defect of this book, as with nearly all of Eliot's prose and much of his poetry, is that he often comes off as rather snobbish, though, I will admit, I am, as an American, quite sensitive to such things.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in the relationship between faith and culture. I also recommend returning to the source of many of Eliot's ideas about this relationship in the work of Christopher Dawson. A slightly strange book containing two essays: The Idea of a Christian Society, and Notes towards the Definition of Culture.

The second essay, somewhat more substantial than the first, isn’t explicitly Christian, so the title’s a bit misleading. Both are carefully reasoned, original and thought-provoking, with Notes presenting an extended meditation on culture and a meticulously developed definition (which is sometimes rather surprising). Eliot’s analysis is complex and penetrating, his conclusi A slightly strange book containing two essays: The Idea of a Christian Society, and Notes towards the Definition of Culture. The second essay, somewhat more substantial than the first, isn’t explicitly Christian, so the title’s a bit misleading. Both are carefully reasoned, original and thought-provoking, with Notes presenting an extended meditation on culture and a meticulously developed definition (which is sometimes rather surprising). Eliot’s analysis is complex and penetrating, his conclusions are elaborate and subtle, with a picture of culture that’s highly organic, diverse, complex and broader than conventional conceptions of culture.

It’s one of those uncommon books that made me consider something more carefully than I had, reflect critically on the author’s ideas, and end up with a fuller and more rationally and consciously developed idea than I had previously. You don’t come across books that do that often. I’d liked Eliot as a poet, but after reading this I hope to get more familiar with his essays. These essays, which read as being paranoid and stoic by turns, were published from a variety of times just before, during, and after World War Two, which makes a good deal of sense. When the world looks a lot like it might be ending, I suppose that those are reasonable and even impressive reactions. TS Eliot is a really smart guy, and if you're interested in hearing his views on the world OUTSIDE of the lens of his poetry, this is a good way to go (one could argue, I think, that most of what he These essays, which read as being paranoid and stoic by turns, were published from a variety of times just before, during, and after World War Two, which makes a good deal of sense.

When the world looks a lot like it might be ending, I suppose that those are reasonable and even impressive reactions. TS Eliot is a really smart guy, and if you're interested in hearing his views on the world OUTSIDE of the lens of his poetry, this is a good way to go (one could argue, I think, that most of what he has to say here is contained more impressively in The Waste Land). An interesting thought: 'A Christian society only becomes acceptable after you have fairly examined the alternatives. We might, of course, merely sink into an apathetic decline: without faith, and therefore without faith in ourselves; without a philosophy of life, either Christian or pagan; and without art.' Seventy or eighty years later - has this occurred? Reprints two small books Eliot published ten years apart.

“The Idea of a Christian Society” (two stars), published in 1939, really doesn’t make it to the table of serious discussion. “Notes towards the Definition of Culture” (4 stars), published in 1948, certainly does. Eliot considers creative, vital culture to be founded on various tensions that balance unity and diversity of social class, regionalism, and religion. His conservatism does not swoon over the value of authority, and he usually ju Reprints two small books Eliot published ten years apart. “The Idea of a Christian Society” (two stars), published in 1939, really doesn’t make it to the table of serious discussion. “Notes towards the Definition of Culture” (4 stars), published in 1948, certainly does.

Eliot considers creative, vital culture to be founded on various tensions that balance unity and diversity of social class, regionalism, and religion. His conservatism does not swoon over the value of authority, and he usually just comes across as a moderate guy worried about the homogenization of society.

Still, Eliot would do well to tell us more about the content of Christianity and delve more deeply into why he thinks religion is essential for the construction of morality. Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish this book before it had to be returned to the library, but I already desperately want a copy. The book contains a series of three essays by Eliot on the necessity of a Christian government and what a Christian society would look like. He pointedly does not address the form of a Christian government because he denies that one form is required.

Rarely have I read something with which I agreed so much, from such a surprising source. I would encourage everyone w Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish this book before it had to be returned to the library, but I already desperately want a copy. The book contains a series of three essays by Eliot on the necessity of a Christian government and what a Christian society would look like. He pointedly does not address the form of a Christian government because he denies that one form is required. Rarely have I read something with which I agreed so much, from such a surprising source. I would encourage everyone who is studying government or culture or sociology to track down a copy of this book and move it to the top of your reading list. Never can I recollect reading such elitist b.s.

My opinion of Eliot significantly decreases the more I read of him past his mid-career. Each snide comment he makes about the necessity for social stratification, educational levels for the upper down to the lower classes, a Christian state - controlling each nation of the globe, etcetera etcetera is given with the statement that these aren't 'feelings' or mere 'opinions'; no, they are 'obvious facts,' according to the later T. Reli Never can I recollect reading such elitist b.s. My opinion of Eliot significantly decreases the more I read of him past his mid-career. Each snide comment he makes about the necessity for social stratification, educational levels for the upper down to the lower classes, a Christian state - controlling each nation of the globe, etcetera etcetera is given with the statement that these aren't 'feelings' or mere 'opinions'; no, they are 'obvious facts,' according to the later T.

Religious snobbery doesn't get any worse than this. Pretty interesting, but unfocused. This book is actually two essays by the great modernist poet.

I was drawn to the work because I have a somewhat modernist aesthetic sense but a firmly conventional view of morality. After discovering that Eliot was a staunch Christian conservative, I had to give some of his prose a try. The first essay is on the formation of a Christian society.

The thesis of this piece was never very clear to me, but there are some very quotable lines along the way. The second e Pretty interesting, but unfocused. This book is actually two essays by the great modernist poet. I was drawn to the work because I have a somewhat modernist aesthetic sense but a firmly conventional view of morality. After discovering that Eliot was a staunch Christian conservative, I had to give some of his prose a try. The first essay is on the formation of a Christian society. The thesis of this piece was never very clear to me, but there are some very quotable lines along the way.

Theology

The second essay is about culture, what it is and how to promote it. Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, dramatist and literary critic.

He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 'for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.' He wrote the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay Tradition and the Individ Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 'for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.' He wrote the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay Tradition and the Individual Talent.

Eliot was born an American, moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at the age of 25), and became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39. “It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe-until recently-have been rooted. It is against a background of Christianity that all of our thought has significance. An individual European may not believe that the Christian faith is true, and yet what he says, and makes, and does will all spring out of his heritage of Christian culture and depend upon that culture for its meaning.I do not believe that culture of Europe could survive the complete disappearance of the Christian faith. And I am convinced of that, not merely because I am a Christian myself, but as a student of social biology.

If Christianity goes, the whole culture goes.” —.

Eliot in 1934 Born Thomas Stearns Eliot ( 1888-09-26)26 September 1888, Missouri, U.S. Died 4 January 1965 ( 1965-01-04) (aged 76), London, England Occupation Poet, dramatist, literary critic, editor Citizenship American by birth; British from 1927 Education AB in philosophy (, 1909) in philosophy (Harvard, 1915–16) Alma mater Period 1905–1965 Literary movement Notable works ' (1915), (1922), (1943), ' (1935) Notable awards (1948), (1948) Spouse ( m. 1915; sep. 1932) ( m. 1957–1965) Signature Thomas Stearns Eliot, (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, and 'one of the twentieth century's major poets'. He moved from his native United States to England in 1914 at the age of 25, settling, working, and marrying there. He eventually became a in 1927 at the age of 39, renouncing his American passport. Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem ' (1915), which was seen as a masterpiece of the movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including (1922), ' (1925), ' (1930), and (1943).

He was also known for his seven plays, particularly (1935) and (1949). He was awarded the in 1948, 'for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry'. Contents. Life Early life and education The were a family with roots in and. Thomas Eliot's paternal grandfather, had moved to to establish a Unitarian Christian church there. His father, (1843–1919), was a successful businessman, president and treasurer of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Company in St Louis. His mother, (1843–1929), wrote poetry and was a, a new profession in the early 20th century.

Eliot was the last of six surviving children; his parents were both 44 years old when he was born. Eliot was born at 2635 Locust Street, a property owned by his grandfather, William Greenleaf Eliot.

His four sisters were between 11 and 19 years older; his brother was eight years older. Known to family and friends as Tom, he was the namesake of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Stearns. Eliot's childhood infatuation with literature can be ascribed to several factors.

Firstly, he had to overcome physical limitations as a child. Struggling from a congenital double, he could not participate in many physical activities and thus was prevented from socializing with his peers. As he was often isolated, his love for literature developed. Once he learned to read, the young boy immediately became obsessed with books and was absorbed in tales depicting savages, the Wild West, or 's thrill-seeking. In his memoir of Eliot, his friend Robert Sencourt comments that the young Eliot 'would often curl up in the window-seat behind an enormous book, setting the drug of dreams against the pain of living.'

Secondly, Eliot credited his hometown with fuelling his literary vision: 'It is self-evident that St. Louis affected me more deeply than any other environment has ever done.

I feel that there is something in having passed one's childhood beside the, which is incommunicable to those people who have not. I consider myself fortunate to have been born here, rather than in Boston, or New York, or London.' From 1898 to 1905, Eliot attended, where his studies included Latin, Ancient Greek, French, and German. He began to write poetry when he was fourteen under the influence of 's, a translation of the poetry of. He said the results were gloomy and despairing and he destroyed them.

His first published poem, 'A Fable For Feasters', was written as a school exercise and was published in the Smith Academy Record in February 1905. Also published there in April 1905 was his oldest surviving poem in manuscript, an untitled lyric, later revised and reprinted as 'Song' in, 's student magazine. He also published three short stories in 1905, 'Birds of Prey', 'A Tale of a Whale' and 'The Man Who Was King'. The last mentioned story significantly reflects his exploration of Village while visiting the of St.

Such a link with primitive people importantly antedates his anthropological studies at Harvard. Eliot lived in St. Louis, Missouri for the first sixteen years of his life at the house on Locust St. Where he was born.

After going away to school in 1905, he only returned to St. Louis for vacations and visits. Despite moving away from the city, Eliot wrote to a friend that the 'Missouri and the Mississippi have made a deeper impression on me than any other part of the world.'

Following graduation, Eliot attended in for a preparatory year, where he met who later published. He studied philosophy at from 1906 to 1909, earning his after three years, instead of the usual four. While a student, Eliot was placed on academic probation and graduated with a pass degree (i.e. He recovered and persisted, attaining a B.A. In an elective program best described as comparative literature in three years, and an M.A.

In English literature in the fourth. Writes that the most important moment of Eliot's undergraduate career was in 1908 when he discovered 's. This introduced him to, and. Without Verlaine, Eliot wrote, he might never have heard of and his book Les amours jaunes, a work that affected the course of Eliot's life. The Harvard Advocate published some of his poems and he became lifelong friends with the American novelist.

After working as a philosophy assistant at Harvard from 1909 to 1910, Eliot moved to Paris where, from 1910 to 1911, he studied philosophy at the. He attended lectures by and read poetry with. From 1911 to 1914, he was back at Harvard studying Indian philosophy and. Eliot was awarded a scholarship to, in 1914. He first visited, Germany, where he planned to take a summer programme, but when the broke out he went to Oxford instead. At the time so many American students attended Merton that the proposed a motion 'that this society abhors the of Oxford'.

It was defeated by two votes, after Eliot reminded the students how much they owed American culture. Eliot wrote to Conrad Aiken on New Year's Eve 1914: 'I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books and hideous pictures on the walls. Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead.' Escaping Oxford, Eliot spent much of his time in London. This city had a monumental and life-altering effect on Eliot for several reasons, the most significant of which was his introduction to the influential American literary figure.

A connection through Aiken resulted in an arranged meeting and on 22 September 1914, Eliot paid a visit to Pound's flat. Pound instantly deemed Eliot 'worth watching' and was crucial to Eliot's beginning career as a poet, as he is credited with promoting Eliot through social events and literary gatherings. Thus, according to biographer John Worthen, during his time in England Eliot 'was seeing as little of Oxford as possible'.

He was instead spending long periods of time in London, in the company of Ezra Pound and 'some of the modern artists whom the war has so far spared. It was Pound who helped most, introducing him everywhere.' In the end, Eliot did not settle at Merton and left after a year. In 1915 he taught English. By 1916, he had completed a doctoral dissertation for Harvard on 'Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of ', but he failed to return for the exam. Marriage.

Passport photograph from 1920. In a letter to Aiken late in December 1914, Eliot, aged 26, wrote, 'I am very dependent upon women (I mean female society).' Less than four months later, Thayer introduced Eliot to, a Cambridge. They were married at Hampstead Register Office on 26 June 1915. After a short visit alone to his family in the United States, Eliot returned to London and took several teaching jobs, such as lecturing at,. The philosopher took an interest in Vivienne while the newlyweds stayed in his flat.

Some scholars have suggested that she and Russell had an affair, but the allegations were never confirmed. The marriage was markedly unhappy, in part because of Vivienne's health issues.

In a letter addressed to Ezra Pound, she covers an extensive list of her symptoms, which included a habitually high temperature, and. This, coupled with apparent mental instability, meant that she was often sent away by Eliot and her doctors for extended periods of time in the hope of improving her health, and as time went on, he became increasingly detached from her.

The couple formally separated in 1933 and in 1938 Vivienne's brother, Maurice, had her committed to a lunatic asylum, against her will, where she remained until her death of heart disease in 1947. Their relationship became the subject of a 1984 play, which in 1994 was adapted as a film. In a private paper written in his sixties, Eliot confessed: 'I came to persuade myself that I was in love with Vivienne simply because I wanted to burn my boats and commit myself to staying in England. And she persuaded herself (also under the influence of Ezra Pound) that she would save the poet by keeping him in England. To her, the marriage brought no happiness. To me, it brought the state of mind out of which came The Waste Land.' Teaching, Lloyds, Faber and Faber.

A plaque at 's Faber Building, 24, London After leaving Merton, Eliot worked as a schoolteacher, most notably at, a private school in London, where he taught French and Latin—his students included the young. Later he taught at the, a state school in. To earn extra money, he wrote book reviews and lectured at evening extension courses at the University College London, and Oxford. In 1917, he took a position at in London, working on foreign accounts.

On a trip to Paris in August 1920 with the artist, he met the writer. Eliot said he found Joyce arrogant—Joyce doubted Eliot's ability as a poet at the time—but the two soon became friends, with Eliot visiting Joyce whenever he was in Paris. Eliot and Wyndham Lewis also maintained a close friendship, leading to Lewis's later making his well-known portrait painting of Eliot in 1938. Recommended T.S. In 1925 Eliot left Lloyds to become a director in the publishing firm, later, where he remained for the rest of his career. At Faber and Faber, he was responsible for publishing important English poets like, and.

Conversion to Anglicanism and British citizenship. The building where Eliot worked from 1925 to 1965; the commemorative plaque is under the right-hand arch. On 29 June 1927, Eliot converted to from, and in November that year he took. He became a of his parish church, London, and a life member of the. He specifically identified as, proclaiming himself 'classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic in religion'. About 30 years later Eliot commented on his religious views that he combined 'a Catholic cast of mind, a Calvinist heritage, and a Puritanical temperament'. He also had wider spiritual interests, commenting that 'I see the path of progress for modern man in his occupation with his own self, with his inner being' and citing and as exemplars of such a direction.

One of Eliot's biographers, commented that 'the purposes of Eliot's conversion were two-fold. One: the Church of England offered Eliot some hope for himself, and I think Eliot needed some resting place. But secondly, it attached Eliot to the English community and English culture.'

Separation and remarriage By 1932, Eliot had been contemplating a separation from his wife for some time. When Harvard offered him the for the 1932–1933 academic year, he accepted and left Vivienne in England. Upon his return, he arranged for a formal separation from her, avoiding all but one meeting with her between his leaving for America in 1932 and her death in 1947. Vivienne was committed to the Northumberland House mental hospital, in 1938, and remained there until she died.

Although Eliot was still legally her husband, he never visited her. From 1938 to 1957 Eliot's public companion was of London University, who wanted to marry him and left a detailed memoir. From 1946 to 1957, Eliot shared a flat at 19, Chelsea, with his friend, who collected and managed Eliot's papers, styling himself 'Keeper of the Eliot Archive'. Hayward also collected Eliot's pre-Prufrock verse, commercially published after Eliot's death as Poems Written in Early Youth.

When Eliot and Hayward separated their household in 1957, Hayward retained his collection of Eliot's papers, which he bequeathed to, in 1965. On 10 January 1957, at the age of 68, Eliot married, who was 30. In contrast to his first marriage, Eliot knew Fletcher well, as she had been his secretary at since August 1949. They kept their wedding secret; the ceremony was held in a church at 6:15 am with virtually no one in attendance other than his wife's parents. Eliot had no children with either of his wives. In the early 1960s, by then in failing health, Eliot worked as an editor for the, seeking new poets in Europe for publication.

After Eliot's death, Valerie dedicated her time to preserving his legacy, by editing and annotating The Letters of T. Eliot and a facsimile of the draft of The Waste Land. Valerie Eliot died on 9 November 2012 at her home in London. Death and honours. Main article: In 1915, overseas editor of magazine, recommended to, the magazine's founder, that she publish 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'.

Although the character Prufrock seems to be middle-aged, Eliot wrote most of the poem when he was only twenty-two. Its now-famous opening lines, comparing the evening sky to 'a patient etherised upon a table', were considered shocking and offensive, especially at a time when was hailed for its derivations of the nineteenth century.

The poem follows the conscious experience of a man, Prufrock (relayed in the ' form characteristic of the ), lamenting his physical and intellectual inertia with the recurrent theme of carnal love unattained. Critical opinion is divided as to whether the narrator leaves his residence during the course of the narration. The locations described can be interpreted either as actual physical experiences, mental recollections, or as symbolic images from the unconscious mind, as, for example, in the refrain 'In the room the women come and go'. The poem's structure was heavily influenced by Eliot's extensive reading of and refers to a number of literary works, including and those of the French Symbolists. Its reception in London can be gauged from an unsigned review in on 21 June 1917.

'The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr. Eliot is surely of the very smallest importance to anyone, even to himself. They certainly have no relation to poetry.' The Waste Land. Main article: In October 1922, Eliot published The Waste Land in.

Eliot's dedication to il miglior fabbro ('the better craftsman') refers to Ezra Pound's significant hand in editing and reshaping the poem from a longer Eliot manuscript to the shortened version that appears in publication. It was composed during a period of personal difficulty for Eliot—his marriage was failing, and both he and Vivienne were suffering from nervous disorders. The poem is often read as a representation of the disillusionment of the post-war generation. Before the poem's publication as a book in December 1922, Eliot distanced himself from its vision of despair. On 15 November 1922, he wrote to, saying, 'As for The Waste Land, that is a thing of the past so far as I am concerned and I am now feeling toward a new form and style.' The poem is known for its obscure nature—its slippage between satire and prophecy; its abrupt changes of speaker, location, and time. This structural complexity is one of the reasons why the poem has become a touchstone of, a poetic counterpart to a novel published in the same year, 's.

Among its best-known phrases are 'April is the cruellest month', 'I will show you fear in a handful of dust' and '. The Sanskrit ends the poem. The Hollow Men. Main articles: and The Hollow Men appeared in 1925. For the critic, it marked 'The nadir of the phase of despair and desolation given such effective expression in The Waste Land.'

It is Eliot's major poem of the late 1920s. Similar to Eliot's other works, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary.

Post-war Europe under the (which Eliot despised), the difficulty of hope and religious conversion, Eliot's failed marriage. Perceived a shift in Eliot's method, writing, 'The mythologies disappear altogether in The Hollow Men.' This is a striking claim for a poem as indebted to as anything else in Eliot's early work, to say little of the modern English mythology—the 'Old ' of the —or the colonial and mythos of and, which, at least for reasons of textual history, echo in The Waste Land. The 'continuous parallel between contemporaneity and antiquity' that is so characteristic of his mythical method remained in fine form. The Hollow Men contains some of Eliot's most famous lines, notably its conclusion: This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.

Ash-Wednesday. Main article: Ash-Wednesday is the first long poem written by Eliot after his 1927 conversion to. Published in 1930, it deals with the struggle that ensues when one who has lacked faith acquires it. Sometimes referred to as Eliot's 'conversion poem', it is richly but ambiguously allusive, and deals with the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human. Eliot's style of writing in Ash-Wednesday showed a marked shift from the poetry he had written prior to his 1927 conversion, and his post-conversion style continued in a similar vein. His style became less ironic, and the poems were no longer populated by multiple characters in dialogue. His subject matter also became more focused on Eliot's spiritual concerns and his Christian faith.

Many critics were particularly enthusiastic about Ash-Wednesday. Maintained that it is one of the most moving poems Eliot wrote, and perhaps the 'most perfect', though it was not well received by everyone. The poem's groundwork of orthodox Christianity discomfited many of the more secular. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Main article: Eliot regarded Four Quartets as his masterpiece, and it is the work that led to his being awarded the. It consists of four long poems, each first published separately: (1936), (1940), (1941) and (1942).

Each has five sections. Although they resist easy characterisation, each poem includes meditations on the nature of time in some important respect—, historical, physical—and its relation to the human condition.

Each poem is associated with one of the four, respectively: air, earth, water, and fire. Burnt Norton is a meditative poem that begins with the narrator trying to focus on the present moment while walking through a garden, focusing on images and sounds like the bird, the roses, clouds, and an empty pool. The narrator's meditation leads him/her to reach 'the still point' in which he doesn't try to get anywhere or to experience place and/or time, instead experiencing 'a grace of sense'. In the final section, the narrator contemplates the arts ('Words' and 'music') as they relate to time. The narrator focuses particularly on the poet's art of manipulating 'Words which strain, / Crack and sometimes break, under the burden of time, under the tension, slip, slide, perish, decay with imprecision, and will not stay in place, / Will not stay still.'

By comparison, the narrator concludes that 'Love is itself unmoving, / Only the cause and end of movement, / Timeless, and undesiring.' East Coker continues the examination of time and meaning, focusing in a famous passage on the nature of language and poetry. Out of darkness, Eliot offers a solution: 'I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope.' The Dry Salvages treats the element of water, via images of river and sea. It strives to contain opposites: 'The past and future / Are conquered, and reconciled.'

Little Gidding (the element of fire) is the most anthologised of the Quartets. Eliot's experiences as an air raid warden in power the poem, and he imagines meeting during the German bombing.

The beginning of the Quartets ('Houses / Are removed, destroyed') had become a violent everyday experience; this creates an animation, where for the first time he talks of Love as the driving force behind all experience. From this background, the Quartets end with an affirmation of: 'All shall be well and / All manner of thing shall be well.' The Four Quartets cannot be understood without reference to Christian thought, traditions, and history. Eliot draws upon the theology, art, symbolism and language of such figures as Dante, and mystics and.

The 'deeper communion' sought in East Coker, the 'hints and whispers of children, the sickness that must grow worse in order to find healing', and the exploration which inevitably leads us home all point to the pilgrim's path along the road of. Plays. Main articles:, and With the important exception of Four Quartets, Eliot directed much of his creative energies after Ash Wednesday to writing plays in verse, mostly comedies or plays with redemptive endings. He was long a critic and admirer of and verse drama; witness his allusions to, and in The Waste Land.

In a 1933 lecture he said 'Every poet would like, I fancy, to be able to think that he had some direct social utility. He would like to be something of a popular entertainer, and be able to think his own thoughts behind a tragic or a comic mask. He would like to convey the pleasures of poetry, not only to a larger audience, but to larger groups of people collectively; and the theatre is the best place in which to do it.' After The Waste Land (1922), he wrote that he was 'now feeling toward a new form and style'. One project he had in mind was writing a play in verse, using some of the rhythms of early. The play featured 'Sweeney', a character who had appeared in a number of his poems. Although Eliot did not finish the play, he did publish two scenes from the piece.

These scenes, titled Fragment of a Prologue (1926) and Fragment of an Agon (1927), were published together in 1932 as. Although Eliot noted that this was not intended to be a one-act play, it is sometimes performed as one. A pageant play by Eliot called The Rock was performed in 1934 for the benefit of churches in the. Much of it was a collaborative effort; Eliot accepted credit only for the authorship of one scene and the choruses., the, had been instrumental in connecting Eliot with producer for the production of The Rock, and later commissioned Eliot to write another play for the in 1935. This one, Murder in the Cathedral, concerning the death of the martyr, was more under Eliot's control. Eliot biographer comments that 'for Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral and succeeding verse plays offered a double advantage; it allowed him to practice poetry but it also offered a convenient home for his religious sensibility.'

T.s. Eliot Christianity And Culture Pdf

After this, he worked on more 'commercial' plays for more general audiences: The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk, (1953) and The Elder Statesman (1958) (the latter three were produced by and directed by ). The Broadway production in New York of The Cocktail Party received the 1950 for Best Play. Eliot wrote The Cocktail Party while he was a visiting scholar at the. Regarding his method of playwriting, Eliot explained, 'If I set out to write a play, I start by an act of choice.

I settle upon a particular emotional situation, out of which characters and a plot will emerge. And then lines of poetry may come into being: not from the original impulse but from a secondary stimulation of the unconscious mind.' Literary criticism Eliot also made significant contributions to the field of, strongly influencing the school of. He was somewhat self-deprecating and minimising of his work and once said his criticism was merely a 'by-product' of his 'private poetry-workshop' But the critic once said, 'I do not know for certain how much of my own mind Eliot invented, let alone how much of it is a reaction against him or indeed a consequence of misreading him. He is a very penetrating influence, perhaps not unlike the east wind.' In his critical essay ', Eliot argues that art must be understood not in a vacuum, but in the context of previous pieces of art. 'In a peculiar sense an artist or poet.

Must inevitably be judged by the standards of the past.' This essay was an important influence over the New Criticism by introducing the idea that the value of a work of art must be viewed in the context of the artist's previous works, a 'simultaneous order' of works (i.e., 'tradition'). Eliot himself employed this concept on many of his works, especially on his long-poem The Waste Land. Also important to New Criticism was the idea—as articulated in Eliot's essay '—of an ', which posits a connection among the words of the text and events, states of mind, and experiences. This notion concedes that a poem means what it says, but suggests that there can be a non-subjective judgment based on different readers' different—but perhaps corollary—interpretations of a work. More generally, New Critics took a cue from Eliot in regard to his 'classical' ideals and his religious thought; his attention to the poetry and drama of the early seventeenth century; his deprecation of the Romantics, especially Shelley; his proposition that good poems constitute 'not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion'; and his insistence that 'poets.

At present must be difficult'.' Eliot's essays were a major factor in the revival of interest in the. Eliot particularly praised the metaphysical poets' ability to show experience as both psychological and sensual, while at the same time infusing this portrayal with—in Eliot's view—wit and uniqueness. Eliot's essay 'The Metaphysical Poets', along with giving new significance and attention to metaphysical poetry, introduced his now well-known definition of 'unified sensibility', which is considered by some to mean the same thing as the term 'metaphysical'. His 1922 poem The Waste Land also can be better understood in light of his work as a critic. He had argued that a poet must write 'programmatic criticism', that is, a poet should write to advance his own interests rather than to advance 'historical scholarship'. Viewed from Eliot's critical lens, The Waste Land likely shows his personal despair about rather than an objective historical understanding of it.

Late in his career, Eliot focused much of his creative energy on writing for the theatre; some of his earlier critical writing, in essays such as 'Poetry and Drama,' 'Hamlet and his Problems,' and 'The Possibility of a Poetic Drama,' focused on the aesthetics of writing drama in verse. Critical reception Responses to his poetry The writer Ronald Bush notes that Eliot's early poems like 'The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock', 'Portrait of a Lady', 'La Figlia Che Piange', 'Preludes', and 'Rhapsody on a Windy Night' had 'an effect that was both unique and compelling, and their assurance staggered Eliot's contemporaries who were privileged to read them in manuscript. Conrad Aiken, for example, marveled at 'how sharp and complete and the whole thing was, from the outset. The wholeness is there, from the very beginning.' ' The initial critical response to Eliot's 'The Waste Land' was mixed.

Bush notes that the piece was at first correctly perceived as a work of jazz-like syncopation—and, like 1920s, essentially iconoclastic.' Some critics, like, and thought it was the best poetry being written in the English language while others thought it was esoteric and wilfully difficult. Edmund Wilson, being one of the critics who praised Eliot, called him 'one of our only authentic poets'. Wilson also pointed out some of Eliot's weaknesses as a poet. In regard to 'The Waste Land', Wilson admits its flaws ('its lack of structural unity'), but concluded, 'I doubt whether there is a single other poem of equal length by a contemporary American which displays so high and so varied a mastery of English verse.' Charles Powell was negative in his criticism of Eliot, calling his poems incomprehensible.

And the writers of Time magazine were similarly baffled by a challenging poem like 'The Waste Land'. Wrote negative criticisms of Eliot's work but also had positive things to say. For instance, though Ransom negatively criticised 'The Waste Land' for its 'extreme disconnection', Ransom was not completely condemnatory of Eliot's work and admitted that Eliot was a talented poet. Addressing some of the common criticisms directed against 'The Waste Land' at the time, Gilbert Seldes stated, 'It seems at first sight remarkably disconnected and confused.

however a closer view of the poem does more than illuminate the difficulties; it reveals the hidden form of the work, and indicates how each thing falls into place.' Eliot's reputation as a poet, as well as his influence in the academy, peaked following the publication of The Four Quartets. In an essay on Eliot published in 1989, the writer refers to this peak of influence (from the 1940s through the early 1960s) as 'the Age of Eliot' when Eliot 'seemed pure zenith, a colossus, nothing less than a permanent luminary, fixed in the firmament like the sun and the moon'. But during this post-war period, others, like Ronald Bush, observed that this time also marked the beginning of the decline in Eliot's literary influence: As Eliot's conservative religious and political convictions began to seem less congenial in the postwar world, other readers reacted with suspicion to his assertions of authority, obvious in Four Quartets and implicit in the earlier poetry.

The result, fueled by intermittent rediscovery of Eliot's occasional anti-Semitic rhetoric, has been a progressive downward revision of his once towering reputation. Bush also notes that Eliot's reputation 'slipped' significantly further after his death. He writes, 'Sometimes regarded as too academic ('s view), Eliot was also frequently criticized for a deadening (as he himself—perhaps just as unfairly—had criticized ). However, the multifarious tributes from practicing poets of many schools published during his centenary in 1988 was a strong indication of the intimidating continued presence of his poetic voice.' Although Eliot's poetry is not as influential as it once was, notable literary scholars, like and, still acknowledge that Eliot's poetry is central to the literary English canon. For instance, the editors of The Norton Anthology of English Literature write, 'There is no disagreement on Eliot's importance as one of the great renovators of the English poetry dialect, whose influence on a whole generation of poets, critics, and intellectuals generally was enormous. However his range as a poet was limited, and his interest in the great middle ground of human experience (as distinct from the extremes of saint and sinner) was deficient.'

C S Lewis

Despite this criticism, these scholars also acknowledge 'Eliot's poetic cunning, his fine craftsmanship, his original accent, his historical and representative importance as the poet of the modern - tradition'. Allegations of anti-Semitism The depiction of in some of Eliot's poems has led several critics to accuse him of. This case has been presented most forcefully in a study by: T. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form (1996). In ', Eliot writes, in the voice of the poem's elderly narrator, 'And the jew squats on the window sill, the owner of my building / Spawned in some estaminet of Antwerp.' Another well-known example appears in the poem, 'Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar'. In this poem, Eliot wrote, 'The rats are underneath the piles.

/ The jew is underneath the lot. / Money in furs.'

Interpreting the line as an indirect comparison of Jews to rats, Julius writes, 'The anti-Semitism is unmistakable. It reaches out like a clear signal to the reader.' Julius's viewpoint has been supported by literary critics such as, and. In a series of lectures delivered at the in 1933, published under the title After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (1934), Eliot wrote of societal tradition and coherence, 'What is still more important than cultural homogeneity is unity of religious background, and reasons of race and religion combine to make any large number of free-thinking Jews undesirable.' Eliot never re-published this book/lecture. In his 1934 pageant play The Rock, Eliot distances himself from Fascist movements of the Thirties by caricaturing Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, who 'firmly refuse/ To descend to palaver with anthropoid Jews'. The 'new evangels' of totalitarianism are presented as antithetic to the spirit of Christianity., in his books In Defence of T.

Eliot (2001) and T. Eliot (2006), sought to defend Eliot from the charge of anti-Semitism. Reviewing the 2006 book, Paul Dean stated that he was not convinced by Raine's argument. Nevertheless, he concluded, 'Ultimately, as both Raine and, to do him justice, Julius insist, however much Eliot may have been compromised as a person, as we all are in our several ways, his greatness as a poet remains.' In another review of Raine's 2006 book, the literary critic also questioned the validity of Raine's defence of Eliot's character flaws as well as the entire basis for Raine's book, writing, 'Why do critics feel a need to defend the authors they write on, like doting parents deaf to all criticism of their obnoxious children? Eliot's well-earned reputation as a poet is established beyond all doubt, and making him out to be as unflawed as the does him no favours.'

Influence Eliot's influence extends beyond the. His work, in particular, and strongly influenced the poetry of two of the most significant post- poets, and, as well as The Weekend of Dermot and Grace (1964).

Eliot additionally influenced, among many others, (who in 1936 published a modern Greek translation of The Waste Land,) and –. Honours and awards Below are a partial list of local, regional, and national honours and awards received by T.S. Eliot or else later bestowed or created in his honour. Note the national or state honours are displayed in order of precedence based on Eliot's nationality and rules of protocol, not awarding date.

National or State Honours 1948 1964 1951 1960 Academic awards. Inducted into (1935). 'for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry' (1948). (of Hamburg) (1955). Dante Medal (of Florence) (1959). Thirteen Honorary Doctorates (Including ones from Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and Harvard) Artistic awards. for Best Play: The Broadway production of The Cocktail Party (1950).

2 for his poems used in the musical (1983) Other honours. of the, England, named in his honour. Celebrated on U.S.

Star on the Works. Eliot: A Life. (1984). Ali, Ahmed. Eliot's Penny World of Dreams: An Essay in the Interpretation of T.S. Eliot's Poetry, Published for the Lucknow University by New Book Co., Bombay, P.S.

King & Staples Ltd., Westminster, London, 1942, pages 138. Asher, Kenneth T. Eliot and Ideology (1995)., First Things 55 (August/September 1995): 25–30. Brand, Clinton A. 'The Voice of This Calling: The Enduring Legacy of T.

Eliot', Modern Age Volume 45, Number 4; Fall 2003, conservative perspective. Brown, Alec. The Lyrical Impulse in Eliot's Poetry, Scrutinies vol. Bush, Ronald. Eliot: A Study in Character and Style. (1984).

Bush, Ronald, 'The Presence of the Past: Ethnographic Thinking/ Literary Politics'. In Prehistories of the Future, ed. Elzar Barkan and Ronald Bush, Stanford University Press. Crawford, Robert. The Savage and the City in the Work of T. Young Eliot: From St Louis to The Waste Land. (2015).

Christensen, Karen. Eliot', The Guardian Review. (29 January 2005). Dawson, J.L., P.D. Holland & D.J.

McKitterick, A Concordance to 'The Complete Poems and Plays of T.S. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1995.

Essay on T. Eliot, in Life and Letters, June 1929. The Art of T. Eliot: An Imperfect Life.

(1998). Guha, Chinmoy. Where the Dreams Cross: T. Eliot and French Poetry. (2000, 2011). Harding, W. Eliot, 1925–1935, Scrutiny, September 1936: A Review.

Hargrove, Nancy Duvall. Landscape as Symbol in the Poetry of T. University Press of Mississippi (1978). Eliot's Parisian Year. University Press of Florida (2009).

T.s. Eliot Christianity And Culture Summaries

Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form. Cambridge University Press (1995). The Invisible Poet: T. (1969)., editor, T.

Eliot: A Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice-Hall. (1962). Eliot and His Age: T. S, Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century.

(Introduction by Benjamin G. Lockerd Jr.). Wilmington:, Republication of the revised second edition, 2008. Kojecky, Roger. Eliot's Social Criticism, Faber & Faber, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1972, revised Kindle edn. Eliot: Homage from India: A Commemoration Volume of 55 Essays & Elegies, Writer's Workshop Calcutta, 1965.

The Letters of T. By Valerie Eliot. I, 1898–1922. San Diego etc. 1988. 2, 1923–1925. Edited by Valerie Eliot and Hugh Haughton, London, Faber, 2009.

Levy, William Turner and Victor Scherle. Affectionately, T. Eliot: The Story of a Friendship: 1947–1965. Matthews, T.

Great Tom: Notes Towards the Definition of T. (1973). Maxwell, D. The Poetry of T. Eliot, Routledge and Keagan Paul. The Making of an American Poet, 1888–1922. The Pennsylvania State University Press.

(ed.) The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions). New York:, 2000. Oxford University Press (2006). Eliot and Prejudice. Robinson, Ian, The Brynmill Press Ltd (2001).

Schuchard, Ronald. Eliot's Dark Angel: Intersections of Life and Art.

Scofield, Dr. Martin, 'T.S. Eliot: The Poems', Cambridge University Press. 'Introduction to T. Eliot' in 16:1 ( January 2009), 146–60.

Sencourt, Robert. Eliot: A Memoir. Painted Shadow: A Life of Vivienne Eliot. Sinha, Arun Kumar and Vikram, Kumar. Eliot: An Intensive Study of Selected Poems, Spectrum Books Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, (2005). (1975).

Spurr, Barry, Anglo-Catholic in Religion: T. Eliot and Christianity, The Lutterworth Press (2009)., editor. Eliot: The Man and His Work, First published in 1966 – republished by Penguin 1971. External links. Find more about T. Eliotat Wikipedia's.

from Wikimedia Commons. Agenda msd serial. from Wikiquote. from Wikisource Biography., including T. Eliot. at., Eliot's Early Years, Oxford and New York, 1977,. Works. at.

at (Canada). at. at (public domain audiobooks).

printed in. at Bartleby.com. Web sites. Archives. at. at the at the. T.

Eliot Collection at,. at University of Victoria, Special Collections Miscellaneous. An interview with Eliot: Donald Hall (Spring–Summer 1959). Paris Review.

audio, video and full transcripts from Open Yale Courses. at the British Library.