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.