Date of Award
8-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Legacy Department
English
Committee Chair/Advisor
Paul, Catherine
Committee Member
Chapman , Wayne
Committee Member
Bushnell , Cameron
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This thesis is an examination of the poetry written by Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot during World War II. The works that I focus on are Pound's The Pisan Cantos and Eliot's Four Quartets. I will go about this examination by applying the vortex, as a literary term and critical tool, to these two works of poetry. The structure of the vortex is a swirling outer turbine held together by a calm center. The vortex was coined as a literary term during the British avant-garde movement, Vorticism. Ezra Pound was a prominent participant in this movement that occurred in the early twentieth century. After Vorticism ended, Pound continued to write about the vortex as a literary term. Eliot, though never a Vorticist, was familiar with the concept of the vortex and directly uses the term in Four Quartets. The application of the vortex will show how Pound and Eliot organized their social, political, and artistic situations at the time of World War II.
Recommended Citation
Bax, Charles, "The Vortex and World War II: Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot's Poetic Treatment of Wartime" (2010). All Theses. 943.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/943