Prufrock and After: The Theme of Change

PMLA ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 1103-1118
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Schneider
Keyword(s):  
The Waste Land ◽  
Subjective Change ◽  
Waste Land ◽  
The Will

T. S. Eliot not only changed his beliefs radically during the course of his life; he also set himself, as a continuing theme in certain of his major poems, to explore the painful and difficult process of subjective change itself in its relation to the will. Prufrock and The Waste Land ask whether change is possible, with differing answers; most of the 1927–31 poems explore change as it is being subjectively experienced; the later poems and plays remain concerned with the theme but more perfunctorily. Though scarcely touched upon in his prose writings, this process of inner change, individual not social, is a major unifying theme in Eliot's poetry.

Beckett's Early Verse and the Modernist Long Poem: A Study of ‘Enueg I’

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-213
Author(s):  
Sławomir Studniarz
Keyword(s):  
Long Poem ◽  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land ◽  
Artistic Activity ◽  
Underlying Network ◽  
Experimental Works ◽  
The Cantos ◽  
Semantic Dimension ◽  
Psychological Dimensions

The premise of the article is the contention that Beckett studies have been focused too much on the philosophical, cultural and psychological dimensions of his established canon, at the expense of the artistry. That research on Beckett's work is issue-driven rather than otherwise, and the slender extant body of criticism specifically on his poetic achievements bears no comparison with the massive exploration of the other facets of Beckett's artistic activity. The critical neglect of Beckett's poetry may not be commensurate with the quality of his verse. And it is in the spirit of remedying this oversight that the present article is offered, focusing on ‘Enueg I’, a representative poem from Echo's Bones, which exhibits all the salient features of Beckett's early poetry. It is argued that Beckett's early verse display the twofold influence, that of the transatlantic Modernism of Eliot and Pound, and of French poetry, specifically the visionary and experimental works of Rimbaud, Apollinaire, and the surrealists. Furthermore, the article also demonstrates that ‘Enueg I’ testifies to Beckett's ambition to compose a complex long Modernist poem in the vein of The Waste Land or The Cantos. Beckett's ‘Enueg I’ has much in common with Eliot's exemplary disjunctive Modernist long poem. Both poems are premised on the acutely felt cultural crisis and display the similar tenor in their ending. Finally, they both close with the vision of the doomed and paralyzed world, and the prevalent sense of sterility and dissolution. In the subsequent analysis, which takes up the bulk of the article, careful attention is paid to the patterning of the verbal material, including also the most fundamental level, that of the arrangements of phonemes, with a view to uncovering the underlying network of sound patterns, which contributes decisively to the semantic dimension of the poem.

THE REFERENCE TO ‘STETSON’ IN THE WASTE LAND

2000 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-339
Author(s):  
JAMES T. BRATCHER
Keyword(s):  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land

Eliot Among the Typists: Writing The Waste Land

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence S. Rainey
Keyword(s):  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land

THE WASTE LAND MANUSCRIPT: PICKING UP THE PIECES—IN ORDER

1979 ◽  
Vol XV (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248
Author(s):  
PETER BARRY
Keyword(s):  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land

Dadaism and Classicism in The Waste Land

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-292
Author(s):  
Patrick Eichholz
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central Question ◽  
World War ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Full Account ◽  
The Waste Land ◽  
Waste Land ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

Out of the wreckage of the First World War, classicism and dadaism charted two opposing paths forward. While one movement sought to overturn the institutions complicit in prolonging the war, the other sought to buttress these same institutions as a safeguard against the chaos of modern life. This essay studies the peculiar convergence of these contradictory movements in The Waste Land. The article provides a full account of Eliot’s postwar engagement with dadaism and classicism before examining the influence of each movement on The Waste Land. Walter Benjamin’s theory of baroque allegory will be introduced in the end to address the article’s central question: How can any one poem be both classicist and dadaist at the same time?

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