T S Eliot’s Seminal Concepts and “Ash Wednesday”

Abstract

The poem presents the journey of the poet’s soul from a hopeless and meaningless world to the all embracing divine world. Eliot may present his thoughts and facts in fragments but his target remains to be the total or the absolute. Eliot may present his thoughts and facts in fragments but his target remains to be the total or the absolute. Absolute is something, which when felt or perceived by individuals, becomes same for all; hence it becomes an impersonal observation for all. one can say that at places the personal element can also be traced out but the dominant feature is indeed impersonal. The poet by employing various pertinent literary tools succeeds to achieve the desired characteristic of impersonal presentation in ‘Ash Wednesday’. For any idea or feeling that Eliot wants to be conveyed strongly to the readers, he does not put only his own thoughts before the readers but he takes help of the earlier works to substantiate his views. Eliot has linked his ideas both with literary and religious traditions alongside. We find concrete allusions, in Eliot’s poems from Dante’s Divine Comedy and many other literary and religious works. This paper discusses the poets skilful use of various devices to build up the impression of impersonality and tradition in the poem.