T.S. Eliot

WEBSTER was much possessed by death

And saw the skull beneath the skin;

And breastless creatures under ground

Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Daffodil bulbs instead of ballsStared from the sockets of

the eyes!He knew that thought clings

round dead limbsTightening its lusts and

luxuries.

John Webster - English Jacobson dramatist Gruesome distinguished

work

Daffodil: symbolizes new beginning and rebirth “Breastless creatures”-the

buried dead

Donne, I suppose, was such another

Who found no substitute for sense;

To seize and clutch and penetrate,

Expert beyond experience,

He knew the anguish of the marrow

The ague of the skeleton;No contact possible to

fleshAllayed the fever of the

bone.

Donne John Donne English poet and priest Obsessed about death

Ague Fever without chills

Allayed To calm or quiet;

alleviate

Grishkin is nice: her Russian eye

Is underlined for emphasis;Uncorseted, her friendly

bustGives promise of pneumatic

bliss.

The couched Brazilian jaguar

Compels the scampering marmoset

With subtle effluence of cat;

Grishkin has a maisonette;

GrishkinWoman named Serafima

AstafievaRussian Ballet DancerOpened a ballet school

Introduced to Eliot by Ezra Pound

Pneumatic BlissBrazilian JaguarMarmoset

Squirrel like MonkeysCat

Sometimes symbolizes guardian of underworld (hell)

MaisonetteSmall House

The sleek Brazilian jaguarDoes not in its arboreal

gloomDistil so rank a feline smellAs Grishkin in a drawling-

room.

And even the Abstract Entities

Circumambulate her charm;But our lot crawls between

dry ribsTo keep our metaphysics

warm.

Abstract Entities Abstract=Difficult to

understand Entities=Ghosts/Spirits

Circumambulate To walk/go about/around

Metaphysics Philosophy concerned

with existence of God and the external world

“our lot” meaning our sort of people (people mentioned in poem)

T.S. Eliot uses juxtaposition, personification, and visual imagery to convey his idea on how too much desire leads to death in Whispers of Immortality.

Written 1920 (at the end of WWI)1920’s was full of people who lost faithJacobean (James I of England time period);

17th century attitude link to sex and deathSign against modern separation

8 stanzas4 lines each (quartet)Capitalized “WEBSTER” (line 1)End-Stopped at the end of each stanza

(exclude 3 & 6)Exclamation point – Important part

“Stared from the sockets of the eyes!” (stanza 2, line 6)

AllusionsWebsterDonneGrishkinP.D. James

“The Skull Beneath The Skin”Book

William WordsworthPoem imitates “Imitations of Immortality”

MoodDark

JuxtapositionCompares desire with death

Visual Imagery Stanza 1, 2, 4

Dead Leaned backward with a

lipless grin Dead limbs Skeleton, bone

Stanza 5 “her Russian eye is

underlined for emphasis” Stanza 6

“Couched Brazilian Jaguar” As if lying on a sofa

Stanza 7 Drawing room

Stanza 8 Abstract entities

circumambulate

Personification Stanza 2

Daffodil bulbs instead of balls/Stared from the sockets of the eyes.

He knew that thought clings round dead limbs

Stanza 5 Her friendly bust gives

promise of pneumatic bliss.

Symbolism Grishkin (Russian dancer)

in line 17 represents the desires of man, as Eliot explains her to be pneumatic bliss in line 20.

“the breastless creatures underground” in line 4 to represent people in Hell.

ABCB Rhyme 8 Syllables per line –

Creates rhythm Repetition

“Brazilian Jaguar” (stanza 5 & 7)

Iambic tetrameter Putting stress on every

other syllable starting with the second syllable. Tetra is the prefix because the lines are separated into four sections

Alliteration – To emphasize certain images “Daffodil bulbs instead of

balls” (stanza 2, line 5)

Consonance “s” Stanza 2

“Started from the sockets of the eyes”

Lusts and luxuries” Stanza 3

“Donne, I suppose, was such another/Who found no substitute for sense/To seize and clutch and penetrate/Expert beyond experience”

In Whispers of Immortality the characters thought of death makes them question their actions and helps them decide whether fulfilling carnal (human) desires is less important than attaining eternal happiness.