Eliot and Lawrence
T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence
– Compare and Contrast their Techniques and Themes
T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence, although they are both contemporary authors of Modernist period, express different values and techniques. They are both born in 1880s when the world enters the industrial age. While both witness the dynamic transition, they both criticize the modernity but in different methods. Two authors’ relations regarding techniques and themes would be analyzed by comparing Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915) and Lawrence’s two poem - How Beastly the Bourgeois is (1929) and Bavarian Gentians (1923).
Eliot and Lawrence both display modernistic aspects. Modern middle class of England, so called Bourgeois is strongly criticized in Lawrence’s poem, How Beastly the Bourgeois is. The title itself clearly demonstrates Lawrence’s hostility towards bourgeois. The poem begins describing how bourgeois seem fancy outside. However, if he were let to be "faced with another man’s need, or to a bit of moral difficulty (11-12), he goes soggy like a wet meringue (13). He is all wormy and hollow inside just like an old mushroom. To Lawrence, bourgeois hold every aspect of cultural decay in the modern Western world. One of typical modernist tactic is to criticize modernity which includes the suddenly enhanced status of the middle class who lack corresponding intellectuals.
Eliot also demonstrates Modernism. He was a key figure of Modernism and was so important a figure that the early Modernism era in 19th century is also called ‘The Age of Eliot’. In The Metaphysical Poets, written in 1915, he introduces his thoughts on what distinct features ‘Modern’ or ‘Metaphysical’ poets should use. Although his early poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is published prior to the book review, it also displays modernistic features. First of all, Prufrock, the speaker of the poem, is not going for ‘telos’. His utterances are not logically connected and thus fail to be
– Compare and Contrast their Techniques and Themes
T. S. Eliot and D. H. Lawrence, although they are both contemporary authors of Modernist period, express different values and techniques. They are both born in 1880s when the world enters the industrial age. While both witness the dynamic transition, they both criticize the modernity but in different methods. Two authors’ relations regarding techniques and themes would be analyzed by comparing Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915) and Lawrence’s two poem - How Beastly the Bourgeois is (1929) and Bavarian Gentians (1923).
Eliot and Lawrence both display modernistic aspects. Modern middle class of England, so called Bourgeois is strongly criticized in Lawrence’s poem, How Beastly the Bourgeois is. The title itself clearly demonstrates Lawrence’s hostility towards bourgeois. The poem begins describing how bourgeois seem fancy outside. However, if he were let to be "faced with another man’s need, or to a bit of moral difficulty (11-12), he goes soggy like a wet meringue (13). He is all wormy and hollow inside just like an old mushroom. To Lawrence, bourgeois hold every aspect of cultural decay in the modern Western world. One of typical modernist tactic is to criticize modernity which includes the suddenly enhanced status of the middle class who lack corresponding intellectuals.
Eliot also demonstrates Modernism. He was a key figure of Modernism and was so important a figure that the early Modernism era in 19th century is also called ‘The Age of Eliot’. In The Metaphysical Poets, written in 1915, he introduces his thoughts on what distinct features ‘Modern’ or ‘Metaphysical’ poets should use. Although his early poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is published prior to the book review, it also displays modernistic features. First of all, Prufrock, the speaker of the poem, is not going for ‘telos’. His utterances are not logically connected and thus fail to be