In Stephen King’s collection of stories Full Dark, No Stars, there is a short story that perfectly characterizes him as a novelist who can create not only suspense, but horror that causes the reader to question his sanity. In A Good Marriage, Darcy has been married to Bob for 27 years. It is after this short introduction that King begins the suspense when Bob goes away on business trip and Darcy not only finds Fifty-Shades-type-of-magazine in her husband’s pristine garage, but she finds the ID of a murdered woman who is linked to other serial killings. Although King does not outwardly say that Bob was the murderer, he slowly reveals more information not only about Bob, but Darcy. When Darcy is unable to hide her anxiety from her husband, Bob nonchalantly admits that he it was his alter ego who was responsible for all those murderers. It is because of how nonchalantly this information is revealed and how well Darcy takes this that makes this horrifying; these circumstances would result in much more dramatic responses. As if this isn't horrifying enough, Darcy herself becomes a murderer by the end of the story by killing her husband after pushing him down the stair and suffocating him. She is able to make this look like a drunken accident, and gets away with murder. Following this, the detective lets Darcy know that he knows what actually happened, and that he always suspected Bob as the culprit of the serial killings. What’s even more horrifying is that he tells Darcy that she was right for killing Bob. Stephen King creates this horrifying aspect because of these unreasonable responses to these graphic and violent actions. He also uses psychological thrill as a way to entice the reader. 

Blog #11

Whispers of Immortality is another poem by T.S. Eliot that exemplifies how Eliot aims to create a theme of the purpose of spirituality in his works. This poem, however, differs from his others because rather than talking about the mortality of human beings and the importance of a pure spirit, it focuses on the immortality of different characters and how they each reached death. The structure of the poem, though, is similar to his others in the sense that it is broken into stanzas, but they can be grouped together because of similar ideas and topics. There are three different characters present with the first two stanzas dedicated to “Webster.” He describes this character as “possessed by death” and making him appear as a creature from the underworld. Like other T.S. Eliot poems, this is also an allusion to John Webster, a famous poet who probably influenced Eliot though his ideas of death. The second character is Donne, who “found no substitute for sense, to seize and clutch and penetrate; Expert beyond experience.” This is clearly another allusion to John Donne, one of the great metaphysical poets that influenced Eliot because of the idea of not only the spirit’s purpose, but the purpose of being human on a physical level. It is after these two characters are introduced that Eliot then changes the tense from past to present when introducing the third character. He also points out that although these two poets did not actually reach immortality, their poetry did as it lived through time and how their purposes are still meaningful despite the passing of time. The third character introduced, Grishkin, is not only female, but symbolizes the passion and purpose that compels both sexual and emotional desires within the narrator, all of those which  keep him immortal. Her exotic and “subtle effluence of a cat” represent that distant and unreachable state of being immortal. This idea of immortality makes this poem stand out as one that does not fit Eliot’s typical topics. However, after decoding the purpose of each character introduced, this poem does in fact describe how immortality is unattainable, therefore stressing the importance of making a purposeful mortal life in which its lasting memories and effects may become immortal. 

Blog #10

Although I did not use Gerontion in my essay on T.S. Eliot, it is a great example of how Eliot uses modernist conventions to convey his purpose and themes that question the pureness and purpose of the human soul. “Gerontion” is derived from a word meaning “of or relating to old age.” It is also one of Eliot’s works that is part of the collection Poems, but is thought to have been written as a prelude to Eliot’s heavier works, like Waste Land. Gerontion explores the life of an aging man, most likely Eliot foreshadowing himself. The first stanza consists of a lot of imagery that creates a negative tone as the narrator describes his state in life. Lines such as “waiting for rain,” “bitten by flies”, “decayed house,”  and “a dull head among windy spaces” all describe how this old man is feeling; a decaying creature as he watches life continue around him. This is a modern convention used by Eliot as he focuses more on loss rather than gain in life, a characteristic in many of his poems. In addition, much like his other poems, Eliot, as usual, alludes to Christ as a tiger, stressing the importance of renewal of the spirit. Although this creates a feeling of hope in the second stanza, the poem continues to describe a what happens in life as one ages. The loss of senses, particularly his sexuality, creates the question of what does one have left after this loss? How is one to engage in acts of passion at this point in life, and what is the result of this?  Eliot continues, however, to conclude the poem by describing how every old man continues to live and exist, just as the spider “suspends in operations.” Eliot uses his conventional poetic devices to achieve his purpose of discovering the human soul through imagery, allusions, and metaphors. These not only deepen the poem’s meaning, but characterize it as a modern poem in the sense that it fits the reality of post -war society in the world. 

Reaction to T.S. Eliot

After reading some of T.S. Eliot’s poetry, it is clear that Eliot creates a style of writing that is not only relevant to his spirituality, but creates a message to his readers that allows them to judge his opinion on certain topics.  The distance of time also appears to be a motif in his poetry as subjects the idea of modern life and contemporary society into his poetry as they pertain to religion and a spiritual lifestyle. In poems such as Hippopotamus and Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service, it seems as if Eliot is not only presenting his opinion that there needs to be a stronger spiritual aspect in society during his time, but he is in an argument with himself and one that contemplates his role as a Christian and the role of the Church in his life. He depicts a life that is in cultural ruin, and often uses nature, whether it be the Hippopotamus or the “garden-wall bees”, as a comparison to draw attention to the beauty and simplicity of reality.  

As a modernist poet transitioning from the Victorian era, Eliot was writing in a time during the twentieth century when normal values were being challenged, especially during the war. Society placed more value on culture rather than spirituality and religion, and as Eliot himself became a devout Christian, his poetry aimed to change this value. His poems use basic imagery, yet includes many important allusions (often the Bible) that makes his readers analyze it’s importance and relevance to the poem’e message. In addition, his poems are set up in quatrains, each one representing a new image or idea that transitions into the next.  At first glance, each of Eliot’s poems seem to be foreign and irrelevant, but after breaking down each stanza, image by image, Eliot’s motifs of life and death and a transcendent spirituality are all crucial for characterizing him as a poet. Getting past the barriers of mythical and religious allusions, there is a concrete idea that Eliot is always able to convey.