 Discuss T.S. Eliot as a modern poet.

 Introduction
 There are so many features of a modern poet in his poems. If we find these modes trends
in any poet's poems then we will call him a modern poet. If we go through the poems of
T.S. Eliot then we will see them full of modern trends of poems. These trends make T.S.
Eliot a modern poet. Let discuss these modern trends on this poet.
 T.S. Eliot as a modern poet
 T.S. Eliot is the true representative of his age. One of his greatest achievements consists
in his having given expression to the dominant anxieties and feelings of his age. Through
the medium of his poems he has rendered the torturing impact of a great metro poli.... the
human soul, the anguish, the ennui, the boredom, the neurosis which such a life
generates. But he is not merely a representative poet, he is also a critic and physician of
his age who tries to cure "the strange disease of modern life.” Eliot is a modern poet not
merely because of the novelty of his themes and by a keen awareness of his time but
chiefly because he has a new method of poetic communication. 
 He felt that it was high time that poetry was restored from the excess of artificiality and
musical elaboration into which it had lapsed. Eliot evolved the triple formula of the
mythical method, the auditory imagination and the objective correlative. He also brought
to the use of poetry the suggestiveness of the symbolist technique.
The first landmark in Eliot's career as a author was Prufrock and Other Observations
(1917). The book was slightly ahead of its time, and received little contemporary
acknowledgement, but it excellently shows an urban civilization in the process of an
utterly sordid collapse. The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock opens in a way in which the
conventional romantic opening is savagely let down by a blunt modern image:
 "Let us go then, you and I/ 
 When the evening is spread out against the sky/ 
 Like a patient etherised upon a table".
His real breakthrough came to the publication of The Waste Land in 1922. In it, Eliot
pioneered a new style, a new approach, and a whole new outlook,
thoroughly opposed to the essentially optimistic and late romantic poetry that was typical
of the pre-war era.
The Waste Land is a masterpiece of modern poetry, a profound panorama of futility and
anarchy of the modern civilization. The greatness of the poem lies in its novel form and
technique which have enabled the poet to concentrate his thought on the interpretation of
a whole condition of human civilization with great success.
Eliot is modern in his objectivity or impersonality of poetry. The imagery and vocabulary
of the modern poet reflect the influence of science and scientific inventions. Realism in
subject matter has led the modern poet to reject the highly ornate and artificial poetic
styles of the romantics in favour of a language which resembles closely the language of
everyday life.
 Modern poetry is characterized by the use of colloquial diction, speech rhythms and
prosaic words. This realism in diction and versification and in the subject matter is a
marked feature of the poetry of T.S. Eliot. Whatever adverse criticisms are there against
T.S. Eliot, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest modern poet of our time. His modernity
may be traced in his innovative technique, realistic subject matter, objectivity, anti-
romantic attitude to life, metaphysic
 What is the Importance of T.S. Eliot as a Critic?
 As modernism stresses pessimism and loneliness, the negative points of modern
life are additionally emphasized within the poem. Prufrock appears to be only
capable of seeing these negative points. Death can also be dominant within the
poem displaying Prufrock as an insect pinned towards the wall. It is even
personified as ‘the eternal Footman.’ What is essential is that Prufrock is the
representative of all modern men. He is indecisive. He can’t even decide about
eating a peach. It is in this sense that the poem appears to be a record of the
random ideas within the thoughts of Prufrock.
 Finally, modernist writers had been fascinated by displaying characters having
several personalities. This is evident in Prufrock, who functions as the speaker
and the listener. In addition, modernist texts are full of allusions to different
texts. The poem is much reference to Dante, Shakespeare, and the Holy Bible.
 Although Eliot is an impressive modernist poet, some critics argued that he uses
some conventional medieval techniques in his works. Those critics argued that
“While T. S. Eliot might be called a medieval modernist . Because of his
admiration for the organic and spiritual community of the Middle Ages together
with his “impersonal” conception of art, his elitist and formalist views isolate him
from several of the central terms of the tradition. That is why some critics called
him a “medieval modernist.”
 Modernist Elements in “The Waste Land”
 This is clear in “The Waste Land,” where Eliot shows his discomfort for modern
life by contrasting it with medieval traits. He leads the difference between the
divinely religious medieval life, which modern life lacks, and the fall in spiritual
matters in contemporary life. In fact, “The Waste Land” can be considered as a
fundamental modernist text.
 The central modernist element found in the poem is the explicit reliance on
images, which is a fundamental characteristic of modern texts. The poem shows
many fragmented images that reflect the feeling of loss in contemporary man.
Although the reader understands nothing of these images, the narrator promises
to deliver the reader how to make meaning from fragmentation.
 The poem clearly describes the modern world, or what the narrator terms as “the
immense panorama of futility and anarchy, modern history.” The frequent
images of falling and decay are representative of modern life.
 The fragmented images, the stream-of-consciousness, and all the other strange
stylistic features in the poem are in a way help convey the message of the poet.
For Eliot, modern life is fragmented and illogical, so he says this through his
style. That is why in “The Waste Land,” he tends to break the logic and
conventions.
 Conclusion
  To conclude, both The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land”
are thought of essential texts representing modern thought. In more particular
terms, they’re examples of modernist poetry. The poems’ content and style
replicate modern life, particularly their effect on the person. Eliot is skillful in
exhibiting this by way of his style in both poems. He makes use of stream-of-
consciousness to deliver the chaos in modern man’s thinking. That is why one can
say that Eliot is likely one of the most influential modernist poets in English
literature.

Eliot might be called a medieval modernist because of his admiration for the

He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
and The Cocktail Party (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".

20th Century (Modern) Poetry characteristics