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ROMANTICISM AND THE "DISSOCIATION OF SENSIBILITY" A STUDY OF CHARLES BAUDELAIRE AND T.S. ELIOT by ANGELIKA MARIA MAESER B.A., University of British Columbia, 1970 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of ENGLISH We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 19 72 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Date fa^X* /f7t ABSTRACT This study attempts to determine what is the basic feature of Romanticism and in what relation to it Charles Baudelaire and T. S. Eliot stand. Since few terms are as misunderstood and as weighed down with numerous and contradictory meanings as Romanticism, this thesis begins by trying to "reconstruct the Romantic situation" and turns to its major aesthetician, Friedrich Schlegel, in order to discover in what the revolutionary new outlook consisted. The fundamental characteristic of Romanticism, that which distinguishes it from all other literary and cultural movements, is here maintained to be the awareness of fragmentation, of division, and of chaos. The great important realization of Romanticism was of the modern world's and man's fragmentation and disunity in contrast to the wholeness and order of the distant past. The task which it assigned itself was to strive for a reintegration of the severed forces — Spirit and Nature — in a new synthesis that would, in turn, create a new man and a new world. In seeking to achieve this harmony, Romanticism turned to symbol, myth, and religion. Two of the most important and influential poets of the modern age, Baudelaire and Eliot, were deeply entrenched in the Romantic Weltanschauung and tradition, although while the former was consciously and progressively so, the. latter was an unconscious and reactionary Romantic. Both poets continue that tradition by virtue of their essential awareness of the duality of man or, in Eliot's ii phrase, of the "dissociation of sensibility". The two fundamental principles of life and art, Spirit and Nature, are continually operative in their work and strive for harmony in their conflict. The conclusion to which this thesis comes, however, is that neither poet fully realized the Romantic goal: the harmony of Spirit and Nature. The two forces co-habit in their verse, but never surpass conflict in a higher third synthesis. The reason for this failure, it is maintained, is their misunderstanding of Nature. Both poets were hostile to and biased against Nature, preferring the exclusiveness of the Spirit. As a result, Baudelaire sought the way of transformation of Nature and Eliot the way of sublimation of Nature. With Eliot Romanticism came -to a dead end, disavowing itself consciously yet tormented by its ever-pressing vision of the fragmentariness of man and art. Eliot, sought to heal the Romantic agony in a way which was not unorthodox for Romantics — conversion and conservatism. But the dilemma which the Romantic vision reveals so clearly — the dissociation of Spirit and Nature '•— has' not thus been solved for modern man. This thesis maintains that Nature must be re-examined and re-understood for poetry to receive a new lease on life in our day. Only thereby will Romanticism once again find a new opening for creation.. Supervisor TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Chapter I The "Dissociation of Sensibility" and Romantic Aesthetic Chapter II Baudelaire and the Revolt Against Nature Chapter III Baudelaire and the Transformation of Nature Chapter IV Baudelaire's Dualism and Christianity Chapter V T. S. Eliot and the Conflict Between Spirit and Nature Chapter VI The Waste Land: "Chaos and Eros" Chapter VII T. S. Eliot and the Christian Solution Chapter VIII The Poems: "The Hollow Men" to -Four Quartets Part I Part II Chapter IX Conclusion Selected Bibliography Introduction The plan of this thesis has changed greatly since I first conceived of writing about Charles Baudelaire and T. S. Eliot. I had intended originally to discuss the "dissociation of sensibility" as Eliot coined it in terms of the dualism between Spirit and Nature, or mind and matter, that coalesced into a system in the seventeenth century. I was perfectly prepared at that time to accept Eliot's judgement that prior to that age, there had existed a unity and wholeness in art (and man) that was absent from the present. Then came the decisive change in point of view. With the reading of Friedrich Schlegel, purely by chance I might add, I realized that I too had fallen into the 'Romantic fallacy" of believing that prior to a certain point in history., there existed unity and wholeness. As I.followed Schlegel's development from a youthful nostalgic Classicist, I made with him the revolutionary change in point of view that the Romantic Anschauung characterized. The "dissociation of sensibility", I then saw, was not simply a modern reality; it had existed throughout time, only past time had become idealized as a kind of Golden Age to which the modern Age of Iron could never compare. Rather than futilely rebelling against that reality of fragmentation and chaos, the Romantic came to accept and to affirm it. His task lay in re-shaping the chaos that stretched out before his gaze and in striving for a reconcilia• tion of the severed forces, Spirit-and Nature. Of course, everything fell immediately into a new shape. Eliot was clearly a Romantic 2 despite himself and Baudelaire one of the most advanced of the Romantic poets. Rather than continue to base my thesis on a fallacy, I had no choice but to re-write the whole thing, except the analysis of Eliot's final poems. In the following study there will, I hope, emerge three things: (1) the significant new awareness that was.the basis of Romanticism. (2) the place of Baudelaire and Eliot in.the Romantic tradition. and (3) the vital importance of a new conception of Nature. The latter, especially, seems important to me, for after studying the development of modern (nineteenth to twentieth century) poetry and the two poets who stand as beacons in that dark night of art, Baudelaire and Eliot, it becomes increasingly clear that the most crippling factor in the modern sensibility is its severance from Nature; as will be seen in the course of this work, I view Nature in its wider sense, that is not merely as external nature, but as a principal life-force operative within the human being. Nature, I have maintained, is one half of the psychic equation; the other half being Spirit. Now these two principles, as we shall see, have long been in conflict and open or secret hostility to one another. Nature has so far been the defeated party, but I do not believe it is too late to resusciate the_abused victim or to resurrect the corpse of Nature back to new life. But these opinions will await the Conclusion where I have developed them more fully into a projected possibility for the future of Romantic art. 3 My thesis is divided into nine chapters, including the Conclusion, according to the following plan: The first chapter outlines the subject under discussion and relates the "dissociation of sensibility" to Romantic aesthetic. The next three chapters deal with Baudelaire — the revolt against Nature, the transforma-- tion of Nature, and his dualism and Christianity.. Chapters five to eight concern T. S. Eliot— the conflict between' Spirit and Nature, The Waste Land: "Chaos and Eros", and the Christian solution. Chapter eight is considerably longer than the foregoing, but I have found it necessary to keep this division in order to give the attention merited by Eliot's last poems. Finally, chapter nine sums up my conclusions regarding the foregoing material and attempts to indicate what should be the future direction of art. CHAPTER I THE "DISSOCIATION OF SENSIBILITY" AND ROMANTIC AESTHETIC When T. S. Eliot wrote, "In the seventeenth century a dis• sociation of sensibility set in, from which we have never recovered... he was making an observation about modern art which had already been anticipated by his Romantic predecessors. The "dissociation of sen• sibility", that mark of Cain on the modern consciousness, is but a new term for the old duality which the Romantics were the first to notice and to emphasize as the distinguishing feature of their age. Eliot described this dissociation as the separation of "feeling" and "language", or substance and form, and considered it the aim of the poet to attempt a reconciliation of these two aspects of art. While the choice of the seventeenth century for a marking-off point does not seem to be an arbitrary and inconsequential one judging from the history of ideas, it nevertheless is not as important to locate the exact time of the supposed dissociation as to note the belief that it has taken place. What we are here confronted with is the view that there has existed at one time in the past—it may be the Graeco-Roman, the Medieval, or the generally pre-modern— a unity, a wholeness, and a completeness that is absent in the pres• ent.' In contrast to this previous age, whose boundaries vary, the modern is marked by a fatal dualism which not only leaves its imprint on art but also brands the artist with its curse.

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