“Poe’s Poetics and Eliot’s Poetry: A Denial of Influence?”

Abstract

The chapter takes as its starting point the issue of Poe’s problematic status in the canon of American literature and the generally mixed reception of his works in his native country. T. S. Eliot’s ambivalent attitude toward Poe’s writing and his perplexity in the face of Poe’s appreciation in Europe is examined in depth. It is argued that Eliot’s condemnation of Poe’s writings is an example of the persistent denigration of Poe by the influential and elitist Anglo-Saxon criticism, placing Eliot alongside other notorious detractors of Poe. Then the specific claims made by Eliot about Poe’s significance as a writer are addressed and dismantled. However, the bulk of the article is concerned with assessing the impact of Poe’s aesthetic views and his poetry on Eliot’s poetic practice. It discusses Poe’s conception of poetry, its close union with music, and the significance of sound. Sample analysis of Poe’s verse, to demonstrate the validity of his theoretical remarks, is provided. Finally, the influence of Poe’s poetics on Eliot’s poetry is demonstrated by examining some of the Modernist poet’s theoretical pronouncements and his actual poetic practice, by analyzing the sound orchestration of his early poem “The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock.” To cement the argument, the article closes with a selective analysis of the changes introduced to the first draft of Little Gidding, the point inspired by the lecture of Marjorie Perloff presented at the 2019 SAAS Conference in Salamanca.