Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Eliot's Hypocrisy
One of the most amazing things about Eliot is ability to express his emotions through his poetry as we all discussed last class. However, in Eliot's Tradition and Individual Talent he states that great works do not come from personal emotion. I can't help but thinking that Eliot may be a hypocrite by saying this. When looking back over Eliot's works I can't help but think that all of these poems came from his own emotions. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, for example, is so dark and depressing that I'm sure it was based off of Eliot's own sadness. The Waste Land also expresses the saddest images and thoughts, and these could not be so well expressed if Eliot himself had not been feeling this way. How many of us write from our own emotions? I know when I'm in a great mood I'll listen to happy music and write about how great life is, and when I am having a bad day I tend to write about sadness and listen to sad music. I think these poems came straight from Eliot's own heart at the time he wrote them.
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Yes, I think you're right, Molly. I think the poetry and the essay have different purposes. Tradition was a public statement for Eliot about what the ideal poetry should be, but his own poetry is much more personal--"these fragments I have shored against MY ruins." I think it's interesting to read Tradition against his own work, as you have suggested here.
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