The Strain of Romanticism in the Poetry of T.S. Eliot

AbstractIn many of his critical writings, T.S .Eliot claims to be votary of classicism. This claim notwithstanding, there are strains of romanticism in his poetry as well as in his essays. present study directed to highlight this ambivalence with reference to Eliot's critical essays as well as his poetry. terms 'classicism' and 'romanticism' are too frequently used in study of literature. There also tradition to classify certain periods in history of English literature as Classical or Romantic. This classification misleading because no period or can claim to be wholly in tradition of classicism or romanticism. They are two different tendencies which are simultaneously traceable in writings of an artist, though not in equal proportion. Eliot's leanings towards romanticism are manifest in all his poems, especially in Four Quartets.Keywords: classicism, romanticism, ambivalence, impersonality.IntroductionIn his preface to For Lancelot Andrews (1928), T.S. Eliot asserted that he was in literature, royalist in politics, and anglo-catholic in religion (Smidt 28). In all three domains, Eliot adhered to tradition and authority. For, without this conformity, he maintained, there will be chaos and disorder in life. This accounts for his insistence on abiding by principles of classicism and drawing from what has been written in past, especially in ancient Greek and Roman literature. Romanticism, on other hand, says Eliot, symptomatic of disorder and chaos. Responding to Middleton Murry's objections to classicism, he says that difference between classicism and romanticism the difference between complete and fragmentary, adult and immature, orderly and chaotic (Selected Essays 26). He further quotes Murry: The English writer, English divine, English statesman, inherit no rules from their forebears; they inherit only this: sense that in last resort they must depend upon inner voice (27). To be guided by one's inner voice, retorts Eliot, tantamount to doing as one likes (27). Such an attitude, he implies, will in turn give rise to anarchy in creative world. This being so, he advocates compliance with rules and traditions handed down by earliest masters. But for this adherence, it inconceivable to produce great art.Eliot's distaste for romanticism notwithstanding, there are flashes of it in his critical writings. This testified by his own statement that a in romantic age cannot be classical except in tendency (Selected Essays 424). Born in an age when influence of romanticism had not completely died down, Eliot could not remain unaffected by it. As classicist he shows his distrust in inspiration. creative process, according to him, matter of toil and labour. It calls for perspiration and good deal of intellectual drudgery. But he reverts his position when he says that process of poetic composition is concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation (21). Eliot thus comes close to accepting idea of supernatural inspiration (Smidt 40). In his commentary published in October issue 1932 of Criterion, he further says that in greatest poetry there always hint of something something impersonal, something in relation to which author has been no more than passive (if not always pure) medium (Smidt 44). The hint of something behind, says Smidt, is actually half-admission of belief in divine of poet (45).Eliot's theory of impersonality too well-known to reiterate. An artist should be objective and detached in his work. In other words, he should not let his own self intrude into his work of art. For, reader's interest in piece of art not in personality of an artist but in permanent and universal truths of life he conveys. …