T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot better known as T.S. Eliot was the man. His family background was full of wealth. His family lineage consisted of a Harvard University president, three U.S. Presidents, and a reverend. I think I was most impressed that he was one of the jurors during the witch trials. Fascinating!

I was most impressed with T.S. Eliot’s use of the bible. I guess this is where the religious criticism comes in. For starters he talks about fasting and praying on page 1196, “But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,” Within this poem, he felt that he was up against an obstacle of losing his greatness. I fast quite a bit and a pray on a regular basis, but I fast more often when I know I am up against an obstacle that is too hard for me to fight. He also results to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in his poem “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”. It states on Page 1196 starting at line 94, “To say: I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all” When Lazarus rose from the dead that was a story to be told!

I also caught the religious text in “Journey of the Magi”. I was impressed with the fact that he took a biblical story about the three wise men and turned it into poetry. He mentions the long journey, camels, traveling all night until they found the place. In the end, Eliot is questioning birth or death. On page 1216, “This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt.” If he found birth just as the three wise men found Jesus, then he found a new beginning and a wonderful thing!

Personally, I do not see any harm in using biblical themes and stories to relate it to poetry. To me, it is no different than when I am talking to my co-workers about situations that I am going through and I relate them to the bible. For instance, we talk about David and Goliath and how some of our personal obstacles seem like Goliath but we have to be like David and not have fear and face that obstacle. Normally if you keep the faith you can defeat your Goliath.

I give a high five to poets such as T. S. Eliot because they are bold enough to incorporate biblical messages into their poems. Some people are afraid to step out of the norm and be bold. I enjoyed his poetry!