A FRESH LOOK AT T S ELIOT’S POEMS

T S Eliot: An intensive Study of Selected Poems,
Arun Kumar Sinha & Kumar Vikram; Spectrum Books Pvt. Ltd., A1 291,
1st Floor, Janakpuri, New Delhi -110058; ISBN 81-7930-173-7; pp 530; Rs. 195

The present study offers a thorough and critical viewpoint on the poetry of T S Eliot, who undoubtedly is the most extensively read poet of the 20th Century. The book is divided into three main s e c t i o n s :I n t r o d u c t i o n , Critical Readings of Selected Poems and Annotations. The comprehensive introduction to Eliot places him in his literary context and brings out the main stylistic features of his works while also examining
his contributions to criticism and theatre. The Introduction provides an incisive view to the readers about different aspects of Eliot as a poet-critic that made him undisputed leader of the new trends in Anglo-American Poetry and Criticism. There is an attempt in the introduction to view the continued influence of Eliot’s technique on the successive poets even though apparently these poets have had orientation different in theme. Thus eminent post-Eliot poets like W. H Auden, Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes are referred to in this context.

The section on Critical Readings of Selected Poems provides focused and critical interpretations and textual analysis of around twenty poems -a selection from Prufrock and Other Observations, Poems 1920 and the Ariel Poems, besides the longer poems, The Hollow Men, The Waste Land and Ash Wednesday. Poems in this section have been selected from the point of view of theme, style and versification. Each poem has an introduction, analysis, critical appraisal and mapping of the thematic development. The intricacies of imagery, diction and versification of each selected poem are reasonably elucidated.

However, it is the third section that sets the present study apart from the kind of ‘industry’ that Eliot study has become. It is worthwhile to mention that the section having the annotations is the longest, much longer than the critical study of the poems. Herein the title of the book ‘intensive study’ comes alive in true sense. The Eliot reader and scholars who have gone through the annotations of critics like George Williamson, B C Southam or Manju Jain etc may find the present study of the selected poems more comprehensive and insightful. Moreover, the amount of new information that these annotations carries is testimony of the long years of study that the book is a product of. In the preface to the book, the author mentions that it has almost
taken a decade in the final production of the book and this naturally demands a closer and more minute look at the contents of the book. It is hoped that the book will emerge as a unique supplementary reading material for the students of literature in various universities and will also be a handy reference volume for the academics and the general readers having an interest in Eliot’s poetry. The low-price of the book, despite good production, is also likely to egg on its sale. This book is first in the Lit- Scan series launched by Spectrum Books with a view to provide comprehensive readers on the doyens of English literature for the university students and academics.

Dr Srirang Jha