by Abdelhamid Hafsa
Abstract. S. Eliot is one of the prominent leading modernist poets. He is acclaimed for his profound thematic explorations through an intricate poetic style. This article aims to delve into the ascendency of the Eastern mysticism and thought, the non-Western philosophical principles and concepts, on the poetry of T. S. Eliot. Through a close analysis of particular passages and poems, this paper aims to reveal the extent to which these philosophical notions were able to shape the poetic themes, style, and worldview in Eliot’s writings. It offers a more profound grasp and understanding of Eliot’s work beyond the literary tradition of the Western culture.
Keywords. T. S. Eliot, Eastern mysticism, worldview, Western culture, philosophical
Introduction
S. Eliot has a poetic career that spans many decades distinguished by outstanding and remarkable philosophical inquiry and equally literary observation and experimentation. His poetry, notably, reveals his deep engagement with both the Western literary traditions to which he owes his major references and a diverse and varied philosophical concepts from foreign traditions other than the Western canon. This article endeavors to reveal how the encounters Eliot had with non-Western philosophical ideas and principles played a great role in shaping his “poetic sensibilities,” through shaping both his stylistic innovation and his thematic explorations.
- Eliot’s Time and the Non-Western Philosophical Principles
The beginning of the 20th century was a phase characterized by crucial intellectual and cultural upheaval in both America and Europe. Grappling with the aftermath of World War I and the fast-paced industrialization, the Western societies started to get gradually and increasingly interested in foreign spiritual traditions and foreign philosophies. Several factors fueled this change, including colonization, the role of trade in fostering and increased global interconnectedness, ideas promulgation. Perhaps the main factor is the increasing disgruntlement with the traditional Western systems of thought and values.
Intellectual Curiosity and Cultural Exchange
During his youth, late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, Eliot, along with the Western intellectuals, were being increasingly susceptible and exposed to a wider range or array of foreign non-Western philosophical ideas. The inflow of texts and scholars from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, along with the colonial encounters and the expansion of global trade routes, facilitated this exposure. As American and European intellectuals and scholars stumbled across these fresh new ideas, they set on a journey of reassessment of the frameworks of their own philosophies, seeking unwonted attitudes and prospects on the nature of reality for example, spirituality, and various existential questions.
Eliot’s Educational and Intellectual Background
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was brought up in an intellectually and culturally vigorous environment. At an early age, he was exposed to the classical Western literature on the one hand, and to the exponentially increasing anthropology fields, philosophy and comparative religion on the other. He pursued his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, and this engrossed him in William James and George Santayana philosophy works. They themselves had been deeply influenced by the Eastern philosophies like Buddhism and Vedanta.
Influence of Theosophy and Transcendentalism
Eliot’s time witnessed the thriving of Transcendentalism and Theosophy, movements that became so popular especially within the Western intellectual milieu. Formal academic influences also had their say in shaping the ideologies of the time. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophy movement, wanted to implement a reconciliation between the spiritual traditions of the East and the Western religion and science. She sought to emphasize that all religions are interconnected and that universal spiritual truths do exist. On the other hand, Transcendentalism, through figures like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, even though it was deeply rooted in the American thought, it took as a model the philosophies of the East like Taoism and Hinduism. The movement advocated for the goodness inherent in humanity and for the individual intuition.
Literary and Artistic Exploration
Eliot was deeply immersed in these intellectual movements and currents that thoroughly moulded and framed his sensibilities for literature. During the early 20th century, Eliot was a young critic and poet in London. He was at the hotbed of a vigorous artistic community featuring important intellectuals and literary figures like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Ezra Pound. Disillusioned with the conventions of the Victorian era and deeply influenced by the innovations of the modern age through what came to be known as modernism, these intellectuals and writers looked for new modes and forms of expression to reflect and capture the modern experience and its complexities.
Impact on Eliot’s Poetic Vision
Eliot grew very impressed by the foreign cultures and their traditions. He believed that exploring the non-Western philosophical ideas and principles could constitute an alternative and a means enabling the writer and intellectual to transcend the limitations imposed by the forms and themes of Western literary tradition. Eliot was deeply engaged with the Buddhist teachings, the Sufi mysticism, and the Hindu scriptures, this equipped him with broad knowledge and enabled him to delve deep into the exploration of existential questions of the human condition, meaning, and identity in deeply resonant and innovative ways. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” and “The Waste Land” are masterpieces weaving together sundry philosophical threads enabling the poet to create a poetic tapestry reflecting the spiritual quest and the fragmentation and of his time.
Thus, the beginning of the 20th century was an era of deep cultural exchange and intellectual curiosity. This period witnessed the active engagement of Western intellectuals like Eliot who were acquainted with and ultimately embraced non-Western philosophical ideas and principles. The study of these philosophies not only enriched Eliot’s poetic vision but also it broadened his literary and philosophical horizons, which enabled him to create original and innovative chef d’oeuvres that still resonate with contemporary readers. The engagement Eliot had with the Eastern mysticism and thought in general is definitely an important and crucial chapter in the history of modernism and modernist literature, foregrounding the perennial relevance of the cross-cultural exchange and dialogue in moulding the artistic expression.
2. Eastern Thought and “The Waste Land”
S. Eliot’s masterpiece “The Waste Land,” was published in 1922. This monumental poem stands as a groundbreaking poem of modernist literature that mirrors the disillusionment and the fragmentation of the European continent after World War I. Fundamental to the thematic complexity of this poem is the integration of various religious and philosophical influences, such as the elements Eliot drew from the Eastern thought and philosophies. This section attempts to explore ways the Eastern philosophies, and more precisely the Buddhist and the Hindu ideas and principles, pervade the thematic fabric of Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” and enrich its probe of the spiritual desolation and redemption in the midst of a modern world whose overwhelming traits are fragmentation and disillusionment.
The Upanishads and Hindu Philosophy
In “The Waste Land,” Eliot borrows from the Upanishads, which are the philosophical-religious texts of Hinduism and which figure out in the Hindu scriptures, to instill his poem with layers of philosophical inquiry and spiritual meaning. Perhaps the concluding section of the poem, “What the Thunder Said,” is the best example and striking instance in which Eliot exploits the mantra of the Upanishads “Datta, dayadhvam, damyata” (translated as give, sympathize, control). According to Hinduism, this mantra summarizes the fundamental ethical principles of generosity (Datta), compassion (dayadhvam), and self-discipline (damyata). These principles are suggested to humanity as antidotes to the moral and spiritual decay the poem depicts. The following lines quoted from the Waste Land reflect Eliot’s deep engagement with the Upanishad:
DA
Datta: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed.
DA
Dayadhvam: I have heard the key
Turn in the door once and turn once only
We think of the key, each in his prison
Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.”
DA
Damyata: The boat responded
Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar
The sea was calm, your heart would have responded
Gaily, when invited, beating obedient
To controlling hands.
This section from Eliot’s poem incorporates principles and ideas from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is one of the main Upanishads of the Hindu philosophy. The Upanishad contains the story of the thunder and its commands “DA” (Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata). Furthermore, in the section “Burnt Norton” from his poem “Four Quartets,” Eliot writes:
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
Here, Eliot offers a clear exploration of the notion of time that is reminiscent of the Buddhism, Hinduism and Eastern philosophies. These philosophies had a particular view of time not as a linear progression but rather a cyclical one. Of particular resonance is Eliot’s use of the expression “still point,” which is a clear reference to the Hindu and Buddhist ideas of the everlasting present moment. This also echoes the Buddhist awareness and state of mindfulness of full existence in the present. All time is eternally present is a reflection of the Buddhist and Hindu conception of time as rather a Maya, or illusion.
Similarly, in “The Dry Salvages” Eliot evokes Hindu deity. He writes:
I sometimes wonder if that is what Krishna meant—
Among other things—or one way of putting the same thing:
That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray
Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,
Pressed between yellow leaves of a book that has never been opened.
And the way up is the way down, the way forward is the way back.
Here, Eliot evokes a major Hindu deity, Krishna. In the Bhagavad Gita, this deity in Hindu culture and philosophy talks about the eternal soul, the nature of time, and duty (Dharma). Besides, the Eliot’s use of the concept that “the way forward is the way back” and “the way up is the way down” is a clear evocation of Eastern philosophical concept of “Advaita” or non-duality. According to “Advaita,” the opposites constitute parts of the same reality. The spiritual progress journey is nothing but a journey of return to one’s source and true self.
Therefore, Eliot’s borrowing and invocation of the Hindu philosophy in his poem “The Waste Land” reveals his deep preoccupation with the ethical teachings and the universal wisdom presented in the Upanishads. By assimilating these elements into his poem, Eliot emphasizes the extensive thematic concern of the poem with the probe for moral redemption and spiritual renewal amidst a world barren of coherence and meaning.
Buddhist Notions of Impermanence and Suffering
Beyond the clear influence of Hinduism, the Buddhist principles and concepts also permeate “The Waste Land.” The poem is laden with Buddhist references to impermanence, the cycle of suffering, and the nature of existence. The barren and desolate land Eliot depicts in his poem, are echoes of the Buddhist concepts of dukkha (translated as suffering) and anicca (translated as impermanence). These two concepts are fundamental credos of Buddhism.
For instance, in the section “The Fire Sermon,” Eliot juggles with the themes of the futile pursuit of worldly pleasures and of the spiritual desolation of humankind, which is a clear reference to the Buddhist rejection of desire and attachment. Furthermore, Eliot’s choice of presenting the poem in a disjointed narrative and fragmented structure reflects the extent to which the self and society disintegrated. This echoes the Buddhist insights into the delusive nature of individual identity and the transient nature of existence.
“The Fire Sermon” contains clear references to Buddhist concepts of dukkha (suffering) and anicca (impermanence). For instance, Eliot writes “The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf / Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind / Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.” These lines denote a sense of decay and loss, which are emblematic of the Buddhist concept of dukkha. This sense of suffering is depicted through the use of images such as the sinking leaves and the broken “river’s tent,” which symbolize transience and the suffering nature of existence. Furthermore, Eliot writes:
The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails
Wide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar.
The barges wash
Drifting logs
Down Greenwich reach
Past the Isle of Dogs.
Here, the river’s changing tides and drifting barges clearly reflect the transience and impermanent nature of existing things. This is expressed as anicca in Buddhism. Desides, the river “sweating” tar and oil image underlines the constant and enduring state of change and flux in the world of nature. This reflects the state of motion of the universe.
It is clear, therefore, that by incorporating Eastern thought in his poem “The Waste Land,” Eliot signals his significant departure from the well-established forms and themes of the Western literary tradition. His juxtaposition of the Buddhist and Hindu philosophical insights with mythological references and the Christian symbolism creates a poetic tapestry transcending the religious and the cultural borderlines. This synthesis enables Eliot to delve deeper into the universal themes of redemption, the quest for spiritual enlightenment, and human suffering in a way that resounds with readers from different philosophical and cultural backgrounds.
All in all, the ascendency of Eastern philosophy thought in T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land,” for example, underlines his deep engagement with the non-Western spiritual teachings and philosophical traditions. Weaving elements of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy into the poem’s structural and thematic framework enabled Eliot to widen the ambit of modernist literature. This offered the readers a deep meditation on existence and its complexities and on the persisting quest for spiritual meaning in the midst of the fragments of modernity. Thus, “The Waste Land” stands as a proof of to Eliot’s genuine fusion of Western and Eastern philosophical insights, illustrating his perennial legacy as a poet who was able to challenge the conventional literary standards and embrace the global intellectual tides.
3. Mystical Dimensions and Sufi Influences on Eliot
T.S. Eliot is known in the literary milieu for his convoluted exploration of existential and spiritual themes. He skillfully borrowed elements from Sufi mysticism and incorporated them into his poetry, which enriched his poetic vision with new layers of spiritual inquiry and symbolic depth. This section discusses the manifestations of Sufi influences in Eliot’s work in general with special focus on “The Hollow Men” and “Ash-Wednesday,” foregrounding his deep engagement with the mystical traditions beyond the literary canon of the Western culture.
“The Hollow Men”: Sufi Themes
Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men,” published in 1925, is a haunting exploration of humanity’s existential despair and spiritual emptiness. In this masterpiece, Eliot integrates themes and motifs evocative of Sufi mysticism, particularly the emphasis of Sufi philosophy on the soul’s journey towards union with the divine. Eliot’s depiction of the hollow men as barren of spiritual purpose and substance is a clear echo of the Sufi concepts of the condition of humanity as a pursuit of transcendence in the midst of worldly illusions.
Eliot’s deliberate exploitation of symbolism and imagery in “The Hollow Men” brings to mind the Sufi teachings on the search for inner truth and on spiritual longing. The refrain, “This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper,” echoes a deep “existential resignation” resonating with the Sufi mindset about the worthlessness of material pursuits and the transience of all worldly attachments.
Moreover, in the opening passage of “The Hollow Men,” Eliot writes:
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar.
The hollow men are portrayed here as spiritually desolate and empty. This is akin to the Sufi depiction of the condition of humanity prior to setting off on the spiritual journey. Images such as “meaningless” whispers and “dried voices” clearly echo the existential emptiness and the desire for a more meaningful and deeper link to the divine.
“Ash-Wednesday”: Spiritual Redemption
Published in 1930, “Ash-Wednesday,” is Eliot’s yet another masterpiece in which he explores the themes of the quest for divine grace, spiritual renewal, and repentance. This work echoes not only Eliot’s heightened engagement with the Christian theology but also the Sufi traditions mystical influences. The poem’s title is evocative and is a clear allusion to the Christian “observance of Ash Wednesday,” which marks the beginning of Lent, a period of introspection and penance.
The poetic language Eliot uses in “Ash-Wednesday” is a clear echo of the Sufi poetry’s use of allegory and symbolism to divulge spiritual truths. The poem explores the longing for spiritual solace, doubt, and inner conflict, which resonate with the core Sufi themes of striving for union with the “divine Beloved” via a total surrender of the ego and deep contemplation. Eliot writes:
At the first turning of the second stair
I turned and saw below
The same shape twisted on the banister
Under the vapour in the fetid air
Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears
The deceitful face of hope and of despair.
It is clear that the Sufi teaching is in the background especially in the image of the ascending stairs. In Sufi teaching, they symbolize the upward spiritual journey of the soul. The steps represent stages of the soul’s enlightenment and purification. The soul’s struggle with the “devil of the stairs” echoes the Sufi concept of the “nafs” or ego. Humans have to overcome this “nafs” in order to attain spiritual redemption. During this journey, the “nafs” will be subject to “deceitful face of hope and of despair,” which are the main challenges in the soul’s navigation of the path leading to God.
Influence of Sufi Symbolism and Allegory
The engagement of T. S. Eliot with the Sufi mysticism is evidenced to a great extent in his use of allegory and symbolic language, and this evidently bears great simulation and resemblance and to the Sufi literary traditions. The Sufi poets exploited the power of metaphorical language in order to express the spiritual experiences and truths transcending mere literal interpretation. Likewise, Eliot uses mythological references and symbolic imagery to bring forth the universal themes of the search for transcendence and human existence. In “Little Gidding,” Eliot writes “The fire and the rose are one,” which is a clear symbolism of the unification of opposites. This reflects one of the Sufi themes of establishing union with the “Divine” relying on their belief in the purifying fire of spiritual trials. Furthermore, Eliot writes in “Ash Wednesday,” “Because I do not hope to turn again / Because I do not hope / Because I do not hope to turn.” The role of repetition denotes a sense of repudiation and an eagerness to rise above all worldly concerns. This is akin to the Sufi path of dispassion from the worldly desires and from the ego to seek union with the divine.
Thus, the way Eliot explored Sufi influences and mystical dimensions in his poetry underlines his deep affiliation with the spiritual traditions of the non-Western literary canon. The integration of elements of the Sufi mysticism into his poems like “Ash-Wednesday,” Eliot was able to enrich his own poetic vision with themes of the quest for inner truth, spiritual longing, and existential questioning. He offered readers a synthesis of Sufi allegory and symbolism with Western literary forms, and this contributed to his modernist legacy as a visionary who was able to transcend religious and cultural boundaries to set on an enduring quest for spiritual enlightenment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Eliot’s poetry is a tapestry he has woven with the threads of various spiritual traditions, like Sufism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. His profound engagement Hinduism is traced through his references to the Hindu sacred texts like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. These references are notably present in his poem “The Waste Land” where is skillfully incorporated the Hindu concepts of the cyclical nature of existence, self-realization, and detachment. Besides, his fascination with Buddhism is evident through his exploration of the concepts of anicca (impermanence) and dukkha (suffering) especially in his poems “The Hollow Men” and “The Waste Land,” in which he grapples with the transient nature of life, existential angst, the quest for spiritual enlightenment, and existential angst. These concepts are also reminiscent of the core Buddhist teaching. Sufism has equally enchanted Eliot and had a deep impact on his poetry. The Sufi journey of the soul to embrace the divine and spiritual redemption is a key concept in Eliot’s poems like “Ash-Wednesday.” This poem is a typical exploration of the themes of the quest for divine presence, inner struggle, and renunciation, reflecting Sufi ideals and mysticism. Synthesizing all these non-Western spiritual traditions, Eliot established a complex and rich poetic landscape inviting his readers to examine humanity’s profound existential questions, the possibility of transcendence, and the nature of suffering. Eliot’s poetry is a reflection of his personal spiritual quest, and establishes a link between the Western and Easter philosophies and thought, which enriches the spiritual and literary experience of the modernist period.
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