Critical Terms and concepts of T.S Eliot

 

T.S. Eliot, one of the most influential poets and critics of the 20th century, developed several key concepts in his critical work. These ideas, including "Tradition and Historical Sense," "Impersonality Theory of Poetry," "Objective Correlative," and "Dissociation of Sensibility," have had a profound impact on literary theory and criticism.

 

Tradition and Historical Sense

In his essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent," Eliot argues that the appreciation and creation of poetry are rooted in an understanding of tradition. By tradition, he does not mean a mere reverence for the past but a continual awareness of how past literature informs and shapes contemporary writing.

 

Eliot asserts that poets should possess a "historical sense," an awareness of the "pastness" of the past as well as its "presence." This implies that writers must engage with previous literary works not as separate entities but as part of a living continuum.

 

According to Eliot, true innovation arises when a poet is attuned to tradition, understanding and assimilating the works of the past. Eliot suggests that new work should reshape our perception of past works by creating a dialogue across generations of writers.

T.S. Eliot’s own poem, The Waste Land, draws on various classical and modern sources, from Dante and Shakespeare to contemporary poets. His use of myth, religious allusions, and historical references showcases how he synthesizes diverse influences, making his work simultaneously innovative and deeply rooted in tradition.

 

Impersonality Theory of Poetry

Eliot’s Impersonality Theory is another central idea from "Tradition and the Individual Talent." He contends that poetry should be impersonal, meaning that poets should suppress their personal emotions and experiences and allow the poem to be shaped by universal truths rather than individual expression.

 

Eliot believes that poets should act as a “catalyst” in the poetic process. Just as a chemical catalyst facilitates a reaction without being changed itself, poets bring together various feelings and ideas to create poetry, but their personal emotions should not overshadow the work.

 This theory argues against the Romantic notion of poetry as a direct expression of personal feelings. Instead, Eliot calls for a depersonalized art form in which the poet’s emotions are transformed into a more universally resonant form.

 

In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot uses the character of Prufrock to explore themes of isolation, indecision, and disillusionment . Eliot himself does not reveal his personal feelings directly but uses Prufrock as a vehicle to address universal concerns, thus embodying his impersonality theory.

 

 

Objective Correlative

Eliot’s concept of the “Objective Correlative” is his theory of how emotion should be conveyed in poetry. He describes it as a set of objects, situations, or events that serve as a formula for a particular emotion, enabling readers to experience that emotion without explicit articulation.

 An objective correlative is an image, event, or symbol that evokes a specific emotion in the reader. Rather than stating an emotion directly, poets should present situations or symbols that inherently carry the emotional weight.

 

Eliot believes that a precise correlation between the object and the emotion allows for a deeper, more authentic reader experience, as readers come to feel the emotion by engaging with the imagery or situations, rather than being told what to feel.

In Macbeth, Eliot praises Shakespeare’s use of the knocking sound at the end of the murder scene as an objective correlative. The knocking externalizes Macbeth’s overwhelming guilt and dread without explicitly stating these emotions, thereby intensifying the emotional impact.

 

Dissociation of Sensibility

The concept of "Dissociation of Sensibility" is Eliot's term to describe a shift he identifies in English poetry after the metaphysical poets (such as John Donne). He argues that earlier poets possessed a unified sensibility, blending thought and feeling seamlessly, whereas later poets experienced a split between intellect and emotion.

 

According to Eliot, poets like Donne and his contemporaries could unify intellectual thought and emotional response. They create a poetry that was intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging. However, this integration fractured after the 17th century, resulting in a "dissociation of sensibility" where poetry became either too intellectual or overly emotional.

 

Eliot’s concept encourages poets to reintegrate thought and feeling, drawing inspiration from the metaphysical poets who maintained a balanced synthesis.

Eliot found this integration in Donne’s poetry, such as in The Canonization and A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning etc. where Donne blends intellectual exploration with intense personal feeling. In contrast, he criticized the poetry of later periods, like the Victorian era, where he believed this unified sensibility was lost, and intellect and emotion were often treated as separate entities.

Contributions of I.A. Richards, Cleanth Brooks, and John Crowe Ransom

 

I.A. Richards, Cleanth Brooks, and John Crowe Ransom were pivotal figures in 20th-century literary criticism, each contributes unique methods and approaches that reshaped the field. Their insights largely laid the groundwork for what came to be known as “New Criticism,” which emphasizes a close and careful reading of texts, isolating them from extraneous influences, and considering them as self-contained works of art. 

 

I.A. Richards

 

I.A. Richards is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of modern literary criticism. His work emphasized the importance of how readers respond to texts and introduced several critical concepts:

 

The Concept of Practical Criticism: Richards is perhaps best known for his book Practical Criticism (1929), in which he developed an experimental approach. He gave students a series of poems without the author’s name or context and asked them to analyze the texts purely on their own terms. This method exposed biases and unexamined assumptions readers bring to texts, which promotes a purely objective interpretation.

 

Psychological Approach: In Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Science and Poetry (1926), Richards explored how literature affects the reader psychologically. He proposed that poetry fulfills psychological needs by balancing conflicting impulses, a theory based on his belief in the integration of emotion and intellect within the literary experience. This perspective made literary study a way to understand human psychology, not just aesthetics.

 

Close Reading: Richards advocated for close, analytical reading as a means to uncover the nuanced structure of a text, especially its language and imagery. This focus on the text’s internal logic and form laid the foundation for the close reading techniques central to New Criticism, shaping an entire generation of literary study.

 

 

Cleanth Brooks

 

Cleanth Brooks, a key figure in the development of New Criticism, emphasized the organic unity of a text and argued against reading literature as a reflection of historical or biographical factors. His work, alongside Robert Penn Warren, established a distinctive method for interpreting literature:

 

The Well-Wrought Urn: In his influential work The Well-Wrought Urn (1947), Brooks argues that a poem should be seen as a self-contained structure of meaning. He critiques “paraphrase” as a way of simplifying poems into mere summaries of content. Instead, he proposed that poems communicate through an intricate web of language, irony and paradox.

 

Paradox and Irony: Brooks introduced the idea that paradox and irony are central to understanding poetic language. He argued that poetry often holds opposing ideasby producing a rich and complex meaning that reflects the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in life. This approach encouraged readers to focus on how literary techniques (such as metaphor and symbolism) contribute to the poem’s deeper significance.

 

Organic Unity: Brooks believed that all elements of a literary work – themes, symbols, structure, and language – interact harmoniously to create a unified whole. This concept of organic unity suggested that every element of the text contributes to its overarching meaning, an idea that profoundly shaped the way literary analysis approached poems and other literary forms.

 

 

John Crowe Ransom

 

John Crowe Ransom, often considered the father of New Criticism, played a significant role in promoting an objective and formalist approach to literature. His theoretical framework placed him at the heart of this movement:

 

Criticism, Inc.: In his influential essay Criticism, Inc. (1937), Ransom argued for a more scientific and methodical approach to literary criticism. He criticized academic criticism for being overly historical or biographical, advocating instead for a focus on the structure, language, and intrinsic beauty of the work. Ransom’s push for an academically rigorous, objective approach influenced subsequent generations to approach texts as independent, self-sufficient artifacts.

 

The Concept of Structure and Texture: Ransom introduced the distinction between "structure" (the underlying ideas and themes in a text) and "texture" (the specific language, tone, and imagery). He believed that the true richness of literature lies in the texture – the details of its language and style – which gives a text its aesthetic beauty. This approach underscored his commitment to a close reading that paid careful attention to a text’s language.

 

The New Criticism Anthology: Ransom edited The New Criticism (1941), which brought together essays that defined this movement. The anthology established New Criticism as a formal school of thought and provided a framework for analyzing literature in a way that could be widely taught and adopted.

Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Summary and analysis

 

In his work Biographia Literaria, Samuel Taylor Coleridge distinguishes between the concepts of fancy and imagination, which he sees as two separate creative faculties. Coleridge believed that imagination was a powerful, unifying force that is essential to artistic creation, while fancy was a lesser, associative ability that involves bringing together images without a true act of creation. This distinction is central to Romantic philosophy and Coleridge’s own literary theory.

 Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher is known for his close friendship and poetic collaboration with William Wordsworth. He is also considered as the founder the English romantic movement along with Wordsworth.  

 The Biographia Literaria an autobiography in discourse by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which he published in 1817. It was one of Coleridge’s main critical studies. In this work, he discussed the elements of writing.

Poetry is indeed a creative activity according to Coleridge. It is the product of imagination. Fancy and imagination are considered as the two manifestations of the creative pursuit. It is the product of an artistic mind and not at all a copy of the original. It makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar. 

 

Primary Imagination

Coleridge describes the primary imagination as “the living power and prime agent of all human perception.” It is the natural ability that everyone has to perceive the world around them and to make sense of it. Coleridge considers this a spontaneous and divine faculty.

 

This faculty allows people to take in and understand their experiences, though not in an entirely conscious way. It operates subconsciously, connecting the individual mind to the world.

 

Example: When we look at a sunset, the primary imagination helps us perceive its colors and shapes, allowing us to experience and understand its beauty without actively trying to create anything new from it.

 

Secondary Imagination

Coleridge defines secondary imagination as an echo of the primary imagination, but it differs in that it requires conscious effort and will. He calls it “a synthetic and magical power,” as it enables the artist or poet to reshape and recreate their experiences, by filling them with personal meaning and depth. This faculty transforms raw experience into artistic creation. It is a unifying force, one that doesn’t merely replicate reality but adds emotional and intellectual depth to it.

 

A poet may see the sunset but use the secondary imagination to shape it into a powerful metaphor for something beyond the physical sight, perhaps using it as a symbol of the fleeting nature of time.

 

example from the poem ode to nightingale by John Keats:

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,

         Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

But on the viewless wings of Poesy,

         Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:

Already with thee! tender is the night,

         And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,

                Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;

                        But here there is no light,

         Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown

                Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

 

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,

         Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,

But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet

         Wherewith the seasonable month endows

The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;

         White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;

                Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;

                        And mid-May's eldest child,

         The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,

                The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

 

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

   Down to a sunless sea.

 

 

Fancy

In contrast to imagination, fancy is seen as a lower, more mechanical faculty. Coleridge describes it as “a mode of memory,” which does not create but merely rearranges what is already there. Fancy is not transformative but associative, connecting ideas and images that are already known.

 

Fancy is decorative rather than creative. It relies on superficial connections between objects and images, lacks the depth and unifying power of imagination.

 

Example: In poetry, fancy would be seen in the use of stock images, similes, or metaphors that don’t provide any new insight. If a poet describes the sunset simply as “red as a rose,” this is a product of fancy, where a common image is used in a predictable way.

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In Biographia Literaria, Samuel Taylor Coleridge presents a deeply philosophical view of poetry and the role of the poet. His ideas contribute to the Romantic belief that poetry arises from a unique, imaginative process and that the poet occupies a special place within society, being able to connect with deeper truths through creativity.

 

Poetry as a Product of Imagination

For Coleridge, poetry is the product of the secondary imagination, a faculty that goes beyond mere imitation or replication of reality. This secondary imagination is an “echo” of the primary imagination, which he describes as “the living power and prime agent of all human perception.”

 

The poet, through secondary imagination, transforms ordinary experience into something profound, giving it new life and meaning. Poetry, then, is not simply about describing the world but creates an idealized version of reality, unified and resonant with deeper significance.

 

 

Poetry as the Union of Opposites

Coleridge views poetry as a form that synthesizes opposites: the finite with the infinite, the known with the unknown, and the ideal with the real. This unifying power is what gives poetry its depth and beauty.

 

This balance of contrasts is a central feature of Coleridge’s view of poetic creation. The poet uses imagination to bring together elements that might seem contradictory. Coleridge describes poetry as the “balance or reconciliation of opposite or discordant qualities,” and he believes that it is through this balancing act that poetry achieves its unique power to evoke emotions and convey complex truths.

 

The Poet as a “Chosen” Individual

Coleridge describes the poet as a unique individual, one capable of perceiving and communicating truths that others might not see. The poet, therefore, has a sensitive soul that can experience a heightened form of existence. The poet is often a visionary, someone capable of glimpsing an idealized reality and articulating it in ways that resonate universally. Coleridge’s conception of the poet aligns with the Romantic view of the artist as a kind of seer or prophet. Coleridge asserts that “the poet, distinguished from the philosopher, is one who, in addition to a specific talent, has acquired a habit of mind and feeling, of spiritualizing and elevating all that he perceives.” it underscores the idea that poets possess a special sensitivity that allows them to see beyond the surface of things.

Poetry as the Expression of Universal Truths

According to Coleridge, true poetry conveys universal truths that resonate with readers across time and place. Poetry goes beyond the mere personal and particular; it speaks to common human experiences, emotions, and insights. Coleridge argues that poetry should be able to “awaken the mind’s attention from the lethargy of custom.” In this way, poetry can transform the ordinary by offering readers new insights and inspiring a deeper understanding of life.

Coleridge writes, “Its immediate object is pleasure, not truth; but truth is the ultimate end of all true poetry.” This means that while poetry is intended to be pleasurable, its true purpose is to reveal truths about existence, thus combining beauty with knowledge.

The Role of Emotion and “Poetic Faith”

Coleridge believes that poetry should evoke a powerful emotional response in readers, bringing them into a state of “poetic faith”—a willingness to suspend disbelief and accept the imaginative vision presented by the poet.

 

This state of mind, where the reader becomes immersed in the poem and accepts its imaginative premises, is crucial to the experience of poetry. Poetry, therefore, relies on the reader’s ability to engage emotionally and intellectually with the poetic vision.

 

Coleridge introduces the concept of “the willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” This suspension of disbelief allows readers to experience the poem’s imaginative world fully.

In his poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge exemplifies many of these theories. The poem’s rich imagery and dreamlike quality invite readers into an imaginative realm that feels both mysterious and profound, blending reality with fantasy. The poet’s use of secondary imagination turns a dream into a complex vision of an exotic world. Kubla Khan invites the reader to experience “poetic faith” through its vision of a paradise where human creativity and nature merge.