Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

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Conclusion Eliot’s five poems follow a pattern influenced by the world as it was, and at the same time, attempting to influence the world too. The Preludes follow an urban dweller who is trapped and yet resilient and defiant. The pattern logically moves to Prufrock where we have the urban dweller of the previous poem who’s now knowingly trapped in his meaningless existence, fully knowing the option he has, but refusing, for fear of the risk involved with action. The Journey of the Magi explores the gentler possibilities available to man to be be born again which is then counterpoised by the horror of his apocalyptic Hollow Men. Finally, Eliot paints a grim picture of a spiritually arid land with The Waste Land which conveys a broad spectrum of the malaise of modern civilisation. In these five poems there is a consistent message with a corresponding adherence to innovative techniques and structure. It can be seen that T.S Eliot’s poetry reflects a mix of modernity and tradition through his literary choices of using radical, innovative poetic genre whilst condemning the evolving landscape. Eliot uses the five poems to emphasise how the breakdown of Western Civilisation and its ramifications of materialism, loss of values, spirituality and faith afflicted individuals living in the emerging landscape. Throughout all of Eliot’s works, precise themes and vivid images are conveyed to audiences through this paradoxical structure. Eliot’s choice to consistently use literary techniques that pioneered new poetic styles, provided a platform to convey his condemnation of modernity, as it enables it to stay relevant in the new wave of modernist literature. Eliot’s choice to use radical literary techniques creates a much clearer conduit to understanding his traditionalist themes. Eliot’s mixture of traditional ideas conveyed by radical technique is then proven to be effective.