T.S Eliot
Worked as editor of Criterion and Egoist, FAber and Faber,
1927, member of English church
1948, won nobel prize for literature
Verse plays - Sweeney agonistes, The family reunion, the cocktail party, the
confidential clerk
Poems - many dramatic monologues such as the The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock, Portrait of a lady
The three voices - the voice when poet talks to themselves
The voice adopted by poet to talk to themselves
The voices of each dramatic character. Each play must have some bit of the poet,
“may be the germ from which the character’s life starts”
Free verse - He discarded the iambic pentameter, adopted and adapted “verse
libre” from the french. Much more flexible use of irony, conversation, the banal,
the unexpected and slang.
Influence of Greek drama - Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Euripedes. “Other models
must be sought if poetry is to regain the stage.” Reintroduced the ritual element,
purgation and renewal, the use of chorus.
Muder in the cathedral
Hist. background
1935, commissioned for the Canterbury festival of june
First 2-3 years, 200 plays
The play-
Verse drama, free verse
The story is based on 11 eyewitness accounts written by the monks
Treated evidence faithfully but selectively
The story is not a recounting of history, rather the event is treated as an allegory
for a deeper idea expressed by eliot. It deals not with stories but situations.
No mention of reason for dispute between archbishop and king
Focus is on the conflict between material and spiritual world.
Theme of martyrdom-
Eliot attempts to spiritualise history
Elements of miracle play, subject of martyrdom in a spiritual manner
The play is a radical shift from the romantic period into the 20th century
After the martyrdom, eliot abandons history and the knights break the 4th wall
Worked as editor of Criterion and Egoist, FAber and Faber,
1927, member of English church
1948, won nobel prize for literature
Verse plays - Sweeney agonistes, The family reunion, the cocktail party, the
confidential clerk
Poems - many dramatic monologues such as the The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock, Portrait of a lady
The three voices - the voice when poet talks to themselves
The voice adopted by poet to talk to themselves
The voices of each dramatic character. Each play must have some bit of the poet,
“may be the germ from which the character’s life starts”
Free verse - He discarded the iambic pentameter, adopted and adapted “verse
libre” from the french. Much more flexible use of irony, conversation, the banal,
the unexpected and slang.
Influence of Greek drama - Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Euripedes. “Other models
must be sought if poetry is to regain the stage.” Reintroduced the ritual element,
purgation and renewal, the use of chorus.
Muder in the cathedral
Hist. background
1935, commissioned for the Canterbury festival of june
First 2-3 years, 200 plays
The play-
Verse drama, free verse
The story is based on 11 eyewitness accounts written by the monks
Treated evidence faithfully but selectively
The story is not a recounting of history, rather the event is treated as an allegory
for a deeper idea expressed by eliot. It deals not with stories but situations.
No mention of reason for dispute between archbishop and king
Focus is on the conflict between material and spiritual world.
Theme of martyrdom-
Eliot attempts to spiritualise history
Elements of miracle play, subject of martyrdom in a spiritual manner
The play is a radical shift from the romantic period into the 20th century
After the martyrdom, eliot abandons history and the knights break the 4th wall
