SIMBOL ZVEZDE U PESNIŠTVU T. S. ELIOTA

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze the presence of astro symbolism in the poetry of Thomas Stearns Eliot. At the beginning of the paper, Eliot’s preference for scientific disciplines such as astronomy, whose postulates greatly influenced Eliot’s tendency to use astro symbols, was mentioned. In this sense, there is also a review of other relevant natural-scientific disciplines that shaped the author’s modernist revolutionary consciousness. The competent critics consider this segment of Eliot’s writings not adequately studied, so this paper should be understood as a modest contribution to the given number of relevant articles. The first part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of the poem “Sweeney among the Nightingales” and the poem Hollow People, containing the most powerful mixture of astral symbols being occasionally combined with other symbolic complexes. The rest of the analysis is devoted to that part of Eliot’s work in which his religious feeling dominates causing the different application of the aforementioned symbols. Now the stars, as symbols, announce the salvation of human race in terms of spiritual rebirth, as evidenced by the songs “Marina”, fragments from the poem Four Quartets, as well as the plays The Rocks and The Cocktail Party. Understandably, despite the radical spiritual upheaval, the relevant symbolism in the second part of the analyzed poem is not one-sided but interwoven with powerful symbols indicating decline and fall as well as those that do not have similar metaphysical depth. Finally, it is emphasized that the given symbolism, although not very frequent, provides an opportunity for some new innovative interpretations especially because of Eliot’s masterly handling of the given material.