A Study Of The Allusion In The Major Poems Of T.S. Eliot

Thomas Sterns Eliot (1888-1965) is one of the most influential poet and critic in the past century. His famous poems include The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Journey of the Magi, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets. The juxtaposition of images and frequent use of allusions have made his poetry difficult to comprehend and somewhat inaccessible to the average reader. This thesis is to provide an overview of the allusions contained in the major poems of this modern poet.The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One gives a general survey of allusion as a literary device. Chapter Two is devoted to the characteristics of the allusions in Eliot's poetry. The willful obscurity and religious coloring are considered its most prominent features. The subsequent Chapter Three illustrates with examples from Eliot's poems the different forms of the allusion and the various functions they perform. Chapter Four probes into the question of how Eliot has accomplished the remarkable feat of using allusions to make his poems "traditional" and "impersonal".Finally the thesis concludes that the allusions make up a significant part of Eliot's poetry. In spite of their obscurity and complicity, a penetrating probe into these allusions will be conducive to our better understanding of T. S. Eliot and his poems.