Impersonality And Its Problems

The present thesis first surveys the controversies in T. S. Eliot's valuation, that is, his theoretical rationality as well as its flaws and faults. Then a critical review of both his system of theories and his theory of Impersonality is conducted to reveal the academic value for which this thesis is aiming at.There are chiefly, three problems with Eliot's Impersonality, the first of which being his theories within one theoretical genre are sometimes, partial and incomplete. The second of these problems is that many of Eliot's later beliefs are obviously different from or even opposite to his earlier doctrines. The third of them is that contradictions arise between Eliot's idealized theories and actual practice in the evolution of his critical theories. For him and also the New Critics poetry is an independent textual arena which resists any extra authorial invasion of intention and external interpretation. However, in his practice of creative writing, Eliot attempts a completely authorial isolation from his own works. In order to remain objective and dialectical in the criticism of Eliot's problems, the present thesis points out the longstanding mistaken conceptions and traps of which a critic of Eliot should all the time be conscious and warned.Chapter Two, the central part of the thesis, first analyzes the three aspects of Impersonality concerning the poet, his emotion, his idea and his experience, all of which are inevitably interwoven with his works. Then two issues concerning impersonal poetry are brought into discussion, the "objective correlative", sensibility and sensation. Eliot has expected to objectify a poet's emotion via these correlatives and concrete images, which do not result in perfect satisfaction, for both the process and the result of the externalization of the poet's emotions are always characterized by subjectivity.Chapter Three concentrates on the depersonalization of the critic. Eliot declares that the critic does not make judgements but to elucidate certain historical facts. Later on, however, he revises his statement into the theory that the critic should not follow apedantic rule and insert any personal emotion, idea or experience into his valuation. The next part of this chapter discusses the similarities and discrepancies between Eliot and the New Critics, and concludes with an observation of the impossibility for poetry alone to bear the New Critics' whole ideological burden.In Chapter Four the "depersonalized" reader is examined in detail. Eliot proclaims that the knowledge of the poet and the involvement of the reader's personality will do harm to the enjoyment of poetry. Nevertheless, theories such as . "Expectation Horizon", "Implied Reader" strengthen critics' confidence that a reader's positive involvement in consuming a textual product will enhance their enjoyment and ensure a healthy development of poetry.Chapter Five concludes the thesis in two points, the first of which has summed up the main arguments of the present study and has then explored the deep layers of problems in Eliot's Impersonality theory. Given that his Impersonality were generally reasonable and objective, he could not possibly have escaped from the paradoxical "contamination" of his personality. To a great extent, Eliot establishes via Impersonality a distinctive personality of his own in the history of both modern criticism and modern poetry. Consequently the isolation may inflict an artist with schizophrenia and set up unconquerable barriers among the poet, the critic, the reader and poetry. The worst of all, it may foster a severe clash between subjectivity and objectivity into irrational dualism, against which critics and readers should be on serious cautious guard.