“Personification of nature, allusions to Greek mythology and the imagery of death - these devices dominate Eliot's poetry.” Elucidate.

Personification of Nature

Eliot frequently imbues nature with human qualities, but unlike the Romantic tradition where nature is often a source of solace and inspiration, in Eliot’s poetry, nature is often desolate, indifferent, or even hostile. This reflects the modernist sense of alienation from the natural world.

• "The Waste Land" (1922): The opening lines, “April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land,” immediately subvert traditional associations of spring with rebirth. April is personified as ‘cruel’ – a distinctly human attribute – highlighting the painful awareness of life amidst decay.
• "The Hollow Men" (1925): The poem depicts a barren landscape, where the wind is described as speaking “low and dry” and the eyes are “hollow.” This personification contributes to the overall sense of emptiness and spiritual aridity.
• "Four Quartets" (1943): While offering a more nuanced view, even in "Four Quartets," nature is not idealized. The garden is presented as a space of both beauty and decay, and the seasons are depicted as cyclical, representing the inevitability of change and loss.

Allusions to Greek Mythology

Eliot’s extensive use of allusions to Greek mythology serves multiple purposes. It provides a framework for understanding the present through the lens of the past, highlights the parallels between ancient and modern experiences of suffering and loss, and adds layers of meaning to his poetry.

• "The Waste Land": This poem is replete with mythological allusions. The Fisher King, Tiresias, Philomela, and the Grail legend are all interwoven into the narrative. The Fisher King, impotent and presiding over a barren land, symbolizes the spiritual and cultural sterility of modern society. Tiresias, the blind prophet, represents the fragmented consciousness of the modern individual.
• "Prufrock" (1915): The epigraph from Dante’s *Inferno* and allusions to Hamlet foreshadow Prufrock’s indecision and paralysis. While not directly Greek, the classical literary tradition informs the poem’s sense of tragic awareness.
• The function of allusion: Eliot uses allusion not to simply demonstrate erudition, but to create a sense of cultural continuity and to suggest that the problems of the modern world are rooted in the past.

Imagery of Death and Decay

The imagery of death and decay is pervasive throughout Eliot’s poetry, reflecting his pessimistic view of modern civilization and his preoccupation with mortality. This imagery is often intertwined with the personification of nature and the allusions to mythology.

• "The Waste Land": The poem is filled with images of dryness, sterility, and fragmentation. The description of the drowned Phoenician sailor, Madame Sosostris’s tarot cards predicting death, and the recurring motif of bones in the desert all contribute to a sense of impending doom.
• "The Hollow Men": The poem’s central image – the hollow men stuffed with straw – is a powerful symbol of spiritual emptiness and death-in-life. The “cactus land” represents a barren and desolate existence.
• "Four Quartets": While exploring themes of redemption, "Four Quartets" doesn’t shy away from confronting the reality of death. The poem contemplates the nature of time, memory, and the inevitability of mortality. The imagery of burning and purification suggests a necessary process of destruction before renewal can occur.

Poem	Personification of Nature	Greek Mythology Allusions	Imagery of Death/Decay
The Waste Land	Cruel April, barren landscapes	Fisher King, Tiresias, Philomela, Grail Legend	Dryness, sterility, drowned sailor, bones in the desert
Prufrock	Urban landscapes reflecting internal decay	Hamlet (classical literary tradition)	Social paralysis, fear of judgment, wasted life
Four Quartets	Garden as both beautiful and decaying	Limited, but echoes of classical themes of fate and time	Burning, purification, contemplation of mortality