T. S. Eliot an Intensive Study of Selected Poems  (English, Paperback, Arun Kumar Sinha, Kumar Vikram, Kalpana Rajaram)

The present study offers a comprehensive critical perspective on T.S. Eliot, arguably the most widely read and discussed poet of the last century. The first Section of this book provides a perceptive introduction to the poet and his works, including his plays and criticism, while placing him in his socio-literary context. The next Section presents focussed critical interpretation and textual analysis of some twenty poems of Eliot—a selection from Prufrock and Other Observations, Poems 1920, and the Ariel Poems, besides the longer poems, The Hollow Men, The Waste Land and Ash-Wednesday. The third Section provides extensive annotations of each of the poems selected for the critical study. The critical discussion ranges over the subject matter, thematic development and stylistic features of each poem in particular and Eliot’s poetry in general.

About the Author

Arun Kumar Sinha retired as University Professor of English and Principal, Langat Singh College, B.R.A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, after teaching Literature for four decades (1961-2000) to college and university students. Besides contributing some literary essays, he has worked on Dylan Thomas and Mark Twain. He resides in Patna.

Kumar Vikram, a post-graduate in English Literature from University of Delhi, works in the Editorial Department of National Book Trust, India, New Delhi.

Table of Contents

Section I

• An Introduction to T.S. Eliot and his Work
• Life and Literary Background
• The Poetry
• The Literary Context
• The ‘Sceptical’ Phase
• The ‘Religious’ Poetry
• Themes
• Style and Versification
• Structure
• Imagery
• The Verse Dramas
• Eliot’s Contemporaries and ‘Successors’
• Eliot’s Critical Work
• Eliot on Critics and Criticism
• Eliot on Poetry and Poets
• An Evaluation of Eliot’s Criticism

Section II

• Critical Readings of Selected Poems
• A Note on Prufrock and Other Observations
• From Prufrock and Other Observations
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• Portrait of a Lady
• Preludes
• Rhapsody on a Windy Night
• La Figlia Che Piange
• A note on Poems 1920
• From Poems 1920
• Gerontion
• Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar
• Sweeney Erect
• A Cooking Egg
• The Hippopotamus
• Whispers of Immortality
• Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service
• Sweeney Among the Nightingales
• The Waste Land
• I. The Burial of the Dead
• II. A Game of Chess
• III. The Fire Sermon
• IV. Death by Water
• V. What the Thunder Said
• The Hollow Men
• Ash-Wednesday
• A Note on the Ariel Poems
• Ariel Poems
• Journey of the Magi
• A Song for Simeon
• Animula
• Marina

Section III

• Annotations
• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
• Portrait of a Lady
• Preludes
• Rhapsody on a Windy Night
• La Figlia Che Piange
• Gerontion
• Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar
• Sweeney Erect
• A Cooking Egg
• The Hippopotamus
• Whispers of Immortality
• Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service
• Sweeney Among the Nightingales
• The Waste Land
• I. The Burial of the Dead
• II. A Game of Chess
• III. The Fire Sermon
• IV. Death by Water
• V. What the Thunder Said
• The Hollow Men
• Ash-Wednesday
• Journey of the Magi
• A Song for Simeon
• Animula
• Marina

Appendices

• I. Thomas Stearns Eliot: Acceptance Speech Nobel Prize for Literature, 1948
• II. T.S. Eliot: A Chronological Account
• III. References and Further Reading