Caution: Projections of Eliot's Earlier Poetry

As I laboriously plow through Eliot’s prose, poetry, and biography, I find common images and themes which seemingly connect.

When I began reading Eliot’s earlier poetry, I began with the first in his Collected Poems 1909-1962. I further began with the title, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, before looking at the lines of what I knew would be a taxing craft to remotely uncover and vaguely comprehend. (Unfortunately, I can’t seem to unleash myself from attaching definitions, as well as the definitions of others regarding Eliot in order to better understand him and his works.) Admittedly, I found myself reading through Wikipedia’s general breakdown of this particular piece and came to an answer that I thought Eliot-like in relation to his title (which he claims not to have any “recollection” of how it came to be). “It has been suggested that Prufrock comes from the German word ‘Prüfstein’ meaning ‘touchstone’ (Wikipedia). Is it possible that this title is indicative of a type of litmus test for the poem or the man in the poem as it pertains to the Eliot guidelines of criticism and/or poet?

Certainly, Eliot’s poem aids in defining his prose on Tradition and the Individual Talent. Prior to the start of Eliot’s four/five poems, there is an introduction from a Classic predecessor. In ‘Prufrock,’ he introduces his poem with an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno. Eliot begins with a keen awareness of the past as he specifies to every poet: “The historical sense involves a perception of the past, but involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; (Kermode 38). Through several of the readings, I recall (and I apologize for not finding something more concrete to support this) Dante’s works playing an integral part in Eliot’s work. This serves as Eliot’s perception of past but as it serves to create a new present or presence through Eliot’s poetry. This particular poem stands out from the rest as it fuses the old with Eliot’s present to create something altogether new with respect to the form of this poem--as he uses a variation of measured rhyming schemes and free verse. However, the images in this poem, for me, painted a more modern picture at times.

I couldn’t shake the images of “yellow smoke” and “yellow fog” that shaped itself into feline or canine form as it “…rubs its back upon the window panes” and again “…rubs its muzzle on the window panes” (15-16). Finally, it “Curled once about the house, and fell asleep” (22). I thought these images of smoke and fog “rub[bing]” so softly on a “house” could convey the encroachment of modern society on Eliot’s traditional society—much as we saw in Howard’s End with the rust rooftops that seemed to grow closer and closer to England’s traditional countryside. There are other images and possible themes that I could not seem to discard, such as age and time, but I didn’t fixate (as I probably should have) on these as much as I did the women in the poems.

I switched gears, readily, when I received a directive email to read the poems chronologically and invest some time in Ronald Bush’s biographical account of Eliot. I also referred to Lyndall Gordon’s book on Eliot’s life and works. It is in Gordon’s book, however, that I found that Eliot painted two women, Emily Hale and Adeleine Moffat into his poems (at least in his earliest two works, Le Figlia che Piange and Portrait of a Lady. “Eliot places women in sentimental situations.... He imagines in these poems a twittering, self-absorbed woman yearning to engulf a man in emotional claims, and assures us that female readers drip tears of gratification at such scenes.” (Gordon 38). His perspective of women is said to stem from his father’s negative attitude of them. Also, we spoke in class of his unfortunate medical condition that prohibited sexual relations with his first wife and, more than likely, several prior to her. Possibly, this poet’s romantic notions toward Hale fused with frustration when he bore Le Figlia che Piange. It is posed that Emily Hale serves as, “…the source for a series of garden encounters in Eliot’s poetry, moments of romantic attraction to a woman” (Gordon 81). This earlier work proves as no exception.

The poet presents her beautifully in the third line as she, “Weave[s], weave[s] the sunlight in [her] hair.” In contrast, we see her “…with a pained surprise—“ in the next line and “…fling[ing] her flowers to the ground in lines four and five. The next stanza switches from the original present to past tense and places a masculine figure in the poem. I cannot help but think that the female figure, Hale, dies and is memorialized in the poet’s imagination as a result of the past tense in the second stanza, the proceeding lines, and Eliot’s personal plight. In the first line of the third stanza, we see her “…turn away, but with the autumn weather.” Eliot uses the fall season to signify life’s past tense for this figure. Yet, the image of this woman forces itself into the poet’s “imagination.” Similarly, “Eliot froze Emily Hale into art so that he could possess her in memory as one might possess a statue of poignant beauty” (Gordon 82). These beautiful images convey such a sense of suffering—just as I’m sure beautiful images presented internal suffering for Eliot.

Placing this particular piece against Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock seemed to convey a sense of growth for the poet. He incorporated women into his evolved work but only as it related to the larger scope of Eliot’s more evolved intellectual world. The poem’s format was more complex as were the images and themes the author intended to evoke.

Although I don’t think I will ever wholly identify with Eliot, I believe I am developing a better sense of understanding him and his works through his biographies. How is it possible to truly understand Eliot’s work without a similar literary knowledge? He was a vastly educated man. My “apt” and literal question mark remains. I am sure it projects forth in this post.