西北师范大学美国文学通史课件 Chapter 12 Colonial Period.pptVIP

Chapter 12 Modernist Poetry T. S. Eliot * Stevens * Williams I. T(omas). S(tearns). Eliot (1888-1965) 1. Literary status Poet, Literary critic, dramatist The acknowledged leader of the new verse and criticism both in America and Great Britain Nobel Prize Winner in 1948 most famous are the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets. Plays: Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party the essay Tradition and the Individual Talent. I. T(omas). S(tearns). Eliot (1888-1965) Eliot was born in the United States, moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at age 25), and became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39. Of his nationality and its role in his work, Eliot said: [My poetry] wouldnt be what it is if Id been born in England, and it wouldnt be what it is if Id stayed in America. Its a combination of things. But in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America. 2. Life and Career： He declared himself “a classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglo-Catholic in religion” in 1928. Born in St. Louis, Missouri well-educated in classic literature – Harvard University – George Santayana and Irving Babbitt – Dante and Donne were his favorites I. T(omas). S(tearns). Eliot (1888-1965) 3. Eliot’s major works: Poetry: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1911) The Waste Land (1922); Gerontin (1920) “Hollow Man” (1925); Ash Wednesday (1930) Four Quartets (1943) Plays: (four poetic plays) Sweeney Agonistes(1932); Murder in the Catherdral;The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk (1953), The Elder Statesman (1958). (The Cocktail Party: Tony Award for Best Play and Broadway Production in 1950). Essays: The Sacred Wood; Essays on Style and Order; Elizabeth Essays; Essays Ancient and Modern, etc. Tradition and the Individual Talent. I. T(omas). S(tearns). Eliot (1888-1965) 4. T.S. Eliot as a critic (p.174) As a distinguished literary critic, E