Eliots Work and Philosophical Notions - Essay Example

? Modernist Free Verse era was renowned for its originality and Avant garde art. Hence, it was the era which disregarded any notion either related to faith or God. Thus, Eliot recognized and analyzed the need of faith to be revived in non-believers. Thomas Stearns Eliot’s Journey of the Magi acts as a critical vocation of religious zeal and spirituality. Hence, Eliot’s Journey of the Magi was aimed to decipher metaphoric Arabseque of religion and spiritual gradient for redemption in the expedition of belief. Therefore, Eliot’s exertion on this particular poem has been considered commitment to religious poetic sensibility and spiritual consciousness. In the venerated poem, Eliot has emphasized on the significance of Magi’s journey to find baby Jesus, who is deemed to be Messiah. Thus, Magi’s spiritual quest; aimed to find a way for the emancipation of the world from materialism, has been depicted as uncertain. This uncertainty has been suggested as a core ingredient of conscious spiritism. Hence, Eliot has emphasized on the difficulties and persistent struggle a part of spiritual awakening, a way to attain spiritual identity (Eliot, 1953). Although, Eliot has been considered as an assorted leader of postmodern realism, but in this diverse piece; he has adapted a thought- evoking style and a vision of a spiritualist, who describes the impediments and bottleneck of the journey of redemption and inside gratification. His elusive style and bohemian repute called for severe criticism on his Anglo-Catholic work. Thus, his former work earned him a repute of a non-believer of religion and their fundamental practices, and eventually a palpable critique of beliefs (Strandberg, 2002). In the journey of Magi, Eliot contemplated with the idea of human change, in terms of journey from physical being to spiritual beings, which was vague in the western world of 1920s. Thus, he depicted the struggle for divinity in the form of divine journey of accomplishment. In the age of secularism, Eliot identified the extinction and decline of spiritual survival. Therefore, he narrated his dogma through the eloquence of the quest for Messiah (Jesus). He regarded the need of a man to incline from the degeneration of modernism, which induced elopement of belief in man. Hence, through this belief which was found in the form of religious insight or realization; man was in a great need to revitalize spiritual consciousness. Moreover, pain and suffering which have been significant parts of spiritual journey are disregarded by Eliot by the end of the poem due to uncertainty. Consequently, Eliot always felt that the religious beliefs were vanishing. Yet, he aimed to restore them in a narrative, which was not completely consistent on religious aspirations, but showed the uncertainty of human belief even in the presence of miracle. As change requires discarding of old beliefs and practices, hence, birth of Jesus and death of old beliefs and practices were depicted as infinite. However, the narrator describes his journey as excruciating and is in a consistent state of grief. Previously Eliot has depicted unworthiness towards the most prestigious earthly things in The Waste Land. Therefore, his famous unimpressive and un-charmed attitude towards charismatic ideology of modernism and skeptical view on the condition of modern man; was a first step towards the journey of spiritual identification (Eliot, 1990). Furthermore, he has also exemplified, how man and his life in society has been completely dominated by chaos. Eliot reflected the trauma stricken and despaired man due to the horrification of World War I, but along with it he also emphasized on man’s despair in not fulfilling the needs of his spiritual being. Spiritual being was marred due to the loss of faith and increased sterility of spiritual consciousness. In 1920’s the world turned around against religious fundamentalism of Victorianism and displayed eccentric manners in terms of vulgarity and expressiveness. Therefore, Western civilization collapsed its conscience and alienated their souls for cultural melancholy. In his easy Tradition and the Individual Talent, he has taken into account the ignorance of man due to modern rationality enforcing him to discard past traditions and to create a self-imposed distressed personality. He has emphasized on the need to keep the past intact and reviewed through traditions. Thus, a man without history and tradition has no identity and will eventually lose faith in as well. Therefore, he strongly advocates the need of art to be preserved and be kept aside from personal influence, due to the fact that it is reserved for future generations and acts as a tradition which needs persistent pondering and present analysis to further explore the horizons of knowledge. Therefore, past traditions act as a fundamental base and present study enables new gateways for further discoveries and along with it becomes an act of reviving traditions. Eliot had a definite view over man’s association with its traditions and its consequent effect on individualism (Eliot, 1950). Eliot further furnishes his argument by generating a view of poetic veracity which should be completely, secured from personalization and it should only act as receptacle of past imagery, epics and traditions (Tradition and the individual talent, 2009). Thus, Eliot stresses on the significance of history which influences man in many way. Hence, a poet or a writer cannot learn and accomplish alone, his work is reliant on past historical art and he can’t attain individuality regardless of inspiration from past work of art. Therefore, the measuring criterion also develops when one compares the work of art from its counterparts from the past. Hence, if one forgoes past art and traditions, neglects religious standards and adapts ambiguous views of life and practices for inner contentment, he is highly negligible of consciousness and would be unable to encompass spiritual phenomena required for distinctive phenomenal gratification of soul. The journey towards spirituality and religious insight enabled Eliot to elaborate the position of Church in the narrative of Chorus from the Rock. The chorus is subsequently divided into three main parts. Firstly, the position and condemnation of the man towards Church and disenabling situation of Church towards modernism is depicted. Secondly, the struggle of Christians has been portrayed how they sustain to live with their ever increasing baggage of burden. It also sheds light on their limited capability to achieve and thus, signifies their inability to become mortal beings. However, in the last section, Eliot ponders and adapts sceptic tone and demands for rationalized answers from the Church and its contribution toward collective humanity. And also from Christians and their participation in the nourishment of faith, humanity, traditions, soul and above of all from the prevention of secular insidious; which prevailed all around (Eliot, 1999). Eliot objected on the perception of church’s spirituality, which abandon humans in need of rectification, but instead charms the world with its secular spirit; which has done no-good to its realistic existence. In respect to the mentioned claim, Eliot also confronts with the idea of life after death. He has also subjected with the deceitfulness of heart which leads towards sin full life. Subsequently impurity of heart withers spiritual being and man becomes immoral being of grungy virtues. Hence, he repeatedly inscribes the submission principle, which means that man is a creation like all others. Therefore, he should learn to recognize the spiritual ingredient, which the creator has added to enliven the final human being. Thus, he is also a creation not a vital being independent of creation process, this aspect needs to be revised as modernism has vanished the idea of supreme power and his angelic component in the form soul in rational human beings. Hence, man has enacted as conscious spirit, which was responsible for moral decisions and tedious journeys of spiritual and religious long-lasting endeavours. Therefore, with his exceptional inspirational writings Eliot has connected the faithless man to belief and thus, provided a bridge to search for lost spiritual being. His aesthetic inscriptions conveyed the significance of consciousness of spirituality with rationality. Top of Form Eliot, T. S. (1953). Journey of the magi. Iowa City, Iowa: The Prairie press. Eliot, T. S. (1990). The waste land. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg. Bottom of Form Top of Form Eliot, T. S. (1950). What is a classic? Tradition and the individual talent. Kiel: Lipsius & Tischer. Top of Form Eliot, T. S. (1999). Collected poems 1909-1962. (Faber Poetry Library / Twentieth-Century English Poetry.) Cambridge [England: Proquest LLC].Bottom of Form Top of Form Strandberg, A. (2002). The Orphic voice: T.S. Eliot and the Mallarmean quest for meaning. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Tradition and the individual talent (1920). (2009, October 13). [online] Retrieved from: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237868 [Accessed: 20 Feb 2013]. Read More