More on Eliot and Tradition -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 04:48:17 04/27/08 Sun
Author: Shannon
Subject: More on Eliot and Tradition
In reply to: Jfish 's message, "Re: Rejection of Imitation in Music" on 19:03:04 04/23/08 Wed

Continuing along the thoughts I just presented above in that quote from Eliot's essay, the idea of time, tradition, and the importance of the past in the presence (i.e. a rejection of the Romantic, autonomous individual ideal) is indeed a preoccupation throughout Eliot's poetry, either by analyzing the the effects of neglecting tradition ("The Wasteland" and "The Hollow Men") or its importance ("Choruses from a Rock" and "The Four Quartets").

Here are a few passages which state in poetry what Eliot attempted to explicate in prose in the earlier quote:

"Time present and time past/ And both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past."
~Burnt Norton

"We did with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, bring us with them.
The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree
Are of equal duration. A people without a history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails
On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel
History is now and England."
~Little Gidding

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Replies:

Tradition and Hemingway -- Shannon, 04:59:41 04/27/08 Sun