(Hardy/Eliot) Society

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  • Created by: NHow02
  • Created on: 14-03-19 11:40
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  • Society
    • Prufrock
      • Begins with an epigraph of Dante's Inferno (poem of contradiction)
        • 'I shall' vs. 'shall I'/'do I dare to eat a peach?'
          • Contradictory/recessive effect
            • Prufrock fears the answer to his question will destroy him
          • After the war, women became increasingly prominent parts of society
            • Many men felt like strangers once they returned + lacking in purpose
          • Compares simple actions with existential ones
      • Thematic Verbs associated with hands
        • 'smoothed' - 'Squeezed', 'twists', 'stuffing'
          • His meaning 'is constantly slipping out of our grasp'
            • Laforgue (1882):  'complex symphonies with certain phrases (motifs) returning from time to time'
              • Eliot also adopted 'a stream of consciousness' for these poems
          • The verbs develop, becoming more frenzied/ destructive
          • Progressive verbs suggest speaker/ Eliot struggles to hold onto reality
    • In A Waiting Room
      • 'morning sick'
        • Hardy used Naturalism in his poetry to create Romanticism
        • Oxymoron creates recessive effect
        • Nature is personified and creates an atmosphere of corruption
      • 'some high altar, children - a pair -'
        • Children are symbolic of hope (links to spring morning)
          • Children have the power to change future
        • Religious connotations, children placed above
          • J. Clipper: 'Man is alone in the Universe'
          • Influenced by the Metaphysical stage of Positivism
            • Universal human rights were superior to any divine authority
        • Hyphons suggests protection OR surrounded on all sides
          • Not separated like 'a soldier and wife'
      • 'no train came in'
        • Modernist image
          • Hardy had a lot of respect for Eliot's work
        • Metaphor for death
          • Emma's death led to Hardy contemplating on life/death
    • A Broken Appointment
      • 2 equal stanzas suggests 2 people separated from love
        • Formal title suggests Hardy is not bitter out of love but lack of honesty
      • 'Human deeds divine/high compassion/pure loving...'
        • Religious/ reverential words suggests he has hope for humanity
        • Appreciates politeness (small things e.g. 'manners maketh man')
          • His poems are centered around the 'uncertainties and selfish nature of love and trust'
            • Positivism was instigated by Auguste Comte, which described the evolution of society
              • However, Hardy's knowledge of human nature did not match Comte's perfect society
        • Alternatively the sarcastic use of religion creates a blasphemouseffect
          • Potentially mocking his first wife, Emma's religious devotion
      • 'love alone can lend you loyalty'
        • Lazy 'l' alliteration demonstrates  negligent action of not showing
        • 'lend' creates a temporary effect (short imposition OR brief love)
        • Repetition of 'you' pronouns creates a blameful effect
        • 'the hope hour stroked its sum'
          • 'h' alliteration is soft + emphasises quiet hope
          • Sibilance is languorous, creating a tortuous effect (hanging on every toll)
          • 'stroked' is comforting, suggesting only time can comfort his loss
            • Circular structure creates an endless effect
    • The Fire Sermon
      • 'A rat crept softly... dragging its slimy belly on the bank'
        • 'Dragging' movement suggests some progress (necessary evil)
        • Repulsive natural imagery
          • Living on scraps (bringing literary past to literary future) MODERNIST IMAGE
            • Modernism broke from traditional formalism (instead used outside influences) + rejected Victorian 'excesses',
      • 'throbbing between two lives'
        • Alludes to Tiresias Being with male & female features + gift of prophecy)
          • Omniscient observer of failed relationships
        • Repulsive word 'throbbing' links to 'carbuncular'
          • Painful swelling beneath the skin (men are ready to burst with loss/desire?)
        • Interim state of the 'Hollow Men' (struggles to connect with his own masculinity)
          • In 1921, Eliot took a break from his job to recover from a mental breakdown
      • 'the Fire Sermon' is a Buddhist teaching that encourages release from earthly pleasures

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