The Development of the Religious Thought Op T

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The Development of the Religious Thought Op T THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT OP T. S. ELIOT APPROVED: Directoector of thel/departmenthel/Depa t of English De^n W the Graduate School THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT OF T. S. ELIOT THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Howard W. Laing, B. A., Th. M. Denton, Texas August, 1967 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Pag® X« INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE NONRSLIGIOUS THOUGHT (1888-1920) 6 III. THE TRANSITION TO THE THOUGHT Of AKQLO- CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY (1921-192?) 35 IV. THE EARLY EXPRESSION OF ANOLO-C/THOLIC CHRISTIANITY (1927-1953) . 67 V, THE LATER EXPRESSION OF ANGLO-CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY (1935-1965) 107 VI. CONCLUSION 141 BIBLIOGRAPHY 150 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION T. 3. Eliot has been acknowledged a® "a poet of spiritual experience.1,1 In his early poetry, however> he does not evi- dence a belief "in an absolute spiritual reality."2 One of the vital studies in til® Eliot corpus, therefore, is to ob- serve, and hence be aware of, hie change from scepticism to Christian belief. This thesis will concern itself with the development of the religious thought of Eliot as it is ex- pressed in his poetry and plays. Although the term "religious" could refer to many reli- gions, religion for Eliot cane to mean Christianity.^ This thesis will limit itself primarily to the development of his religious thought as It relates to Christianity. Other reli- gious Influences will be introduced if they have a modifying or possible modifying effect upon his grasp of Christianity as it is commonly understood. This will be a vital point to ti^from hmnfaSm m Mm£'gHtwwufr (prihcetoi 2Kristian Smidt, Poetry and Belief in the Work of T. 8* Eliot (London, 196l), p. 122. ^T. S. Eliot, "The Humanism of Irving Babbitt," Selected m§,m eoTT. S, Elliot (New York, 1950), p. 427. 2 watch because it has been suggested that in Four Quarteta es- pecially, Eliot may have gone beyond Christianity.2* A number of factors would have simplified an attempt to follow the development of his religious ideas. The task would have been aintplifled if Eliot had purposely left behind more autobiographical detail. C. S. Lewis, for example, a contem- porary professor and poet, wrote an autobiography of his early years up to the time of his conversion in a volume en- titled Surprised by Joy. Eliot, on the other hand, made little effort to leave autobiographical information behind and even stated in his will that there was to be no official biography.5 His poetry and prose and information from friends who knew him must be, therefore, the primary sources for gleaning material for this undertaking. In addition to more autobiographical detail, less trouble- some times would have diminished the measure of difficulty in discovering his religious development. His efforts to capture the complex times in which he lived, as well as his own ex- periences in those times, negate the possibility of an easily understood poetry, no matter how lucidly it is set forth. In ^Neville Braybrooke, T. S. Eliot: A Critical Essay (Grand Rapids, 1967), p. 4B7 ~~ 5lbid., p. 42. "Lewis and T. S. Eliot met one another for the first time In 1961 at Lambeth Palace where they worked together on the Archbishops of Canterbury and York's Commis- sion for the Revision of the Psalter." (C, S. Lewis, Chris tian Reflections, edited and arranged by Walter Hooper (G: Rapids, 1967), p. xiJi) 3 explaining the metaphysical poets, Eliot also revealed his own alms: It is not a permanent necessity that poets should be Interested in philosophy, or in any other subject. We can only amy that it appears likely that poets in our civilization, as It exists at present, must be difficult. Our civilisation comprehends great variety and complexity, and this variety and complexity, playing upon a refined sensibility, must produce various and complex results. The poet mist become more and more comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect> in order to forge, to dislocate if necessary, language into his meaning.® Another factor that would have made this study not as demanding would have been for the poet not to have been such a pure poet. He always aspired, however, for poetry to be poetry and not something else. If he had been less of a poet and more of a propagandist* his worth as a poet would have been greatly lessened, This is a case where one is pleased that the task of discovering his thought is difficult, and it is difficult since hi® religious ideas can only be discovered indirectly, especially in his early poetry. His conviction of what poetry should be requires this. He does not think that poetry should set forth a belief; poetry should convey what it feels like to hold a particular belief.* nhzt Eliot himself feels is expressed by images and symbols, so that these images and symbols must be understood in each context in order to extract the Idea and observe the progression of thought. 6Eliot, "The Metaphysical Poets," Selected Essays. p. 240, 7T. S. Eliot, "The Social Function of Poetry," Og, Poetry and Poets (Hew York, 1964), p. 9. 4 nevertheless, despite the lack of autobiographical detail, despite the variety and con$>lexity of the civilisation he had to write about, audi despite the nature of hi® poetio expres- sion, his voice Is present# as his essay "The Three Voice® of Poetry" makes clearJ Hi© first voice is the voice of the poet talking to himself—or to nobody. The second is the voice of the poet addressing an audience, whether large or swill, The third is the voice of the poet when he atteaapts to create a draa&tlc character speaking in verse j when he is saying, not what he would say in his own person, but only what he can say within the limits of one Imaginary character ad- dressing another imaginary character,® The poet speaking to hiwelf-~t!what he would say in his own person"—is the authentic voice of the poet and can usually be discerned, even behind the mask of a Prufrock, a Oerontlon, or a Tireslas. All three voices, however, speaking in and through Ms poetry and plays, should of tfeeaaelvea give suf- ficient light on his religious development. The plan of this thesis 1® to proceed through his poetry i~- and plays chronologically* Four chapters will cover the four periods of his life: Chapter I (1888-1920), Chapter II (1921~ 1927), Chapter III (1927-1933), and Chapter IV (1955-1963). A brief biographical sketch of the inaaedi&te period to be cov- ered will be given first, followed by the consideration of his poetry or plays relevant to the subject. The biographical sketch will help to give perspective to the background of the poetry. At tines biographical Information %llot, "The Three Voices of Poetry," <2& Poetry and Poets. p. 96. 3 can shed much light on the meaning of a poem. An attempt, however, to reconstruct the genesis of a poem or play is not the primary task of this paperj besides, such an endeavor of discovering source© the author used, when and where he wrote, with what purposes, and under what influences is at best only suggestive and aiay be completely inaccurate# C. S. Lewis made the following pertinent observation concerning the efforts of scholars to reconstruct the origin® of hie own work®* impression 1® that in the whole of my experience not one of these guesses ha® on any one point been right; that the method shows a record of 100 per cent failure* You would expect that by mere chance they would hit as often as they mat* But it is lay impression that they do no such thing.9 A chronological approach to the development of the reli- gion® thought of Eliot has not been done before or at least has not been made known and available; hence, this fact plus the measure of difficulty of the ta®k make® the undertaking necessary and important. S. Lewis, "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism/' Christian Reflection* (Grand Rapids, 1967), pp« 139*160. CHAPTER II THE NOKRELIOIOUS THOUGHT Tills opening chapter will trace the development of the poet'* religious thought during the first thirty-two years of Ms life, frca hla birth in St. Louis on S&ptwttmr 26, 1888, to hla publication of ?oem§ In London In 1920. Since it cover® such a lengthy period, it must of necessity be highly selec- tive ^ covering only those aspects of Eliot's background, In- fluences, and writing® that are relevant to the subject, Eliot lived the first seventeen years of his life at 2655 Locust Street, St. Louie, He was the youngest of a family of seven, although the sixth, a daughter, died before he was bom. The Bllot fatally was a distinguished and a religious on®. Br. William Oreenleaf Eliot, Eliot1® grandfather, was a Unitarian minister and the Chancellor of Washington University; Or. Eliot's eldest son, Thomas Lamb Eliot, was a Unitarian pastor in Oregon; Ifenry Ware Eliot, another son and Eliot's father, was a successful buslnesswsmj Edward Cranch Eliot, Henry Mare Eliot * 8 brother, was a lawyer; Charlotte C» Bllot, Eliot's mother, «a® a fairly good poet; and Charles William Eliot, a third cousin once removed of Eliot's grandfather, was a pres- ident of Harvard. Both the Eliot family and Eliot's maternal ancestors, the Stearns family, cam© from Massachusetts« When 7 the poet'is father died In 1919* Mrs. Eliot moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, The form of religion that Sliot received in his early years was Unltarianisra, an extreme form of Protestant thought, even an extreme form of liberalism.
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