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.At the very least, who are more commonly thought to be at homein his opening remarks, Eliot does nothing to dispel in the political arena.Eliot envisions  dangers forthat distinct impression, thereby confirming it. I society when those opposing but complementaryam merely a man of letters, he confesses, one who functions become too divided and compartmental-has  never taken any part in politics other than that ized to the point that  men of one profession canof a voter.and that of a reader. Furthermore, in no longer understand the mind and temperamentan apparent deference to his audience s interest, he of men of another.288  Little GiddingThe long history of the literature of English asserts, and that domain, he concludes, is theconservatism powerfully suggests that that need proper domain for the literature of politics.Therenot be the case, so that men of one cast of mind, the thinking and the writing can be focused, inthe writers, can codify the behavior of men of Eliot s view, on the most authentic political con-another, those so-called men of action. To know siderations:  What is Man? What are his limita-what to surrender, and what to hold firm, Eliot tions? What is his misery and what his greatness?writes,  and indeed to recognize the situation ofand What, finally, his destiny? That sounds muchcritical choice when it arises, is an art requiring.more like the poet of the Four Quartets, however,resources of experience, wisdom and insight. Thatthan the conservative spokesperson, and that mayis what the political writer can bring to the table invery well be his point: that ultimately the literaturethe midst of deliberations that often leave too littleof politics is poetry.time for proper reflection before action must ensue.So, then, there must be  no complete separationof function between men of thought and men ofaction, but the writer may often be swallowed up Little Gidding (1942)in such a maelstrom of short-term decisions andsolutions.That there should be no complete sepa-See FOUR QUARTETS.ration between one function and the other does notmean that the writer, the man of thought, shouldnot be wary of erasing the distinction himself in hisown life and work. Love Song of J.AlfredEliot holds up the example of the archconserva-tive French political thinker and activist Charles Prufrock, The (1915)Maurras (1868 1952), a major voice for the reac-tionary monarchist principles of the Catholic No poet in memory has ever had quite so spectacu-Action Français.During his own youthful sojourn lar a debut as the young T.S.Eliot when his poemin France in 1910 11, Eliot had been attracted to  The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock was firstthe militantly traditionalist biases of the Action published in Poetry magazine in 1915, thanks infrançaise movement, and some believe that his large part to the good offices of another relativelyeventual move to classicism, royalism, and Catholi- young American poet, EZRA POUND.As with anycism found its roots there, although a fertile soil other event of great moment in its particular field,was also required to begin with.These many years hindsight may give an unfair advantage.Certainlylater, Eliot holds Maurras up as an example of what the great world did not come to a standstill toa writer ought not to do in the political sphere.witness let alone pay homage to the event of theIf, Eliot muses, Maurras had  confined himself to poem s publication.Nevertheless, for those wholiterature, and to the literature of political theory, were avid supporters of the revolution in the artsand had never attempted to found a political party, then taking place, the publication of  Prufrocka movement.then those of his ideas which were signaled a turning point in the art of writing Ameri-sound and strong might have spread more widely, can poetry from which there would henceforth beand penetrated more deeply, and affected more no turning back.While it would be wrong to givesensibly the contemporary mind. either Eliot or his poem too much of the credit forEliot ends by proposing an entirely different tack creating a revolution in the art of poetry writing,for the writer when it comes to politics [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]