Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

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uplifting and familiar, in technique and in theme, or in other words a simpler and more naïve view of life that encompasses faith and religious belief. The 19 th century traditionalist era was less dependent on scientific rationalism and placed man at the centre of the universe, and had a place for God and the afterlife. This era, prior to the theory propounded by Charles Darwin, provided people with greater security and a simpler rationale for existence through faith, religious belief and the certainty of being rewarded in the afterlife. Eliot, with his profound religious belief, was at the centre of this. He understood that whilst faith was not rational, it was nevertheless paramount to the lives of people and as such, he voiced his distaste for the emerging landscape through his works like The Waste Land , using radical literacy techniques and styles. Eliot’s radical techniques and poetic styles can be seen as a part of the evolving landscape in society and the arts, and his traditionalist views conveyed can be seen as a “reaction against the modern” which is longing for the past. (Menand, 1996, p. 554) It is a delicate compromise that Eliot makes throughout all of his work, and one that is effective in conveying his message. Elliot’s poems can be seen to be modernist as they show awareness of the irrational and the workings of the unconscious mind, through the influences of Sigmund Freud, the questioning of scientific rationalism and more specifically the work of Charles Darwin. Throughout Eliot’s work, experimentalism in literary technique is evident through the “rejection of traditional Victorian and Edwardian frameworks narrative, description and rational exposition in favour of stream-of-consciousness and reliance on image, allusion and myth”. (Song, 2018, Pg. 8) All of his works have a theme of cultural relativism; the notion that no culture is intrinsically superior to another. This discontinuity, historically and stylistically, and his inclination to explore subjects previously considered undeserving of literary focus, further solidified his position as a modernist author. The first of Eliot’s poems to be analysed, Preludes , displays a strong connection to the idea of the elaboration of nostalgic themes via the medium of revolutionary stylistic delivery, not the least being the title, which gives the reader a clear indication of what’s to come.