T.S. Eliot's Paradiso
Graduation Date
Summer 1955
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
The Four Quartets of Mr. Eliot have been the subject of many critical studies since their publication in 1943. Among other aspects of them which have been analyzed is their relationship to the Divine Comedy of Dante. In particular the influence of the Inferno and Purgatorio has been pointed out by such critics as Mr. J. M. Bradbury, Miss Helen Gardner, Mr. F. 0. Matthiessen, and Mr. Raymond Preston, but that the Paradiso also contributed a great deal to the Four Quartets has not been particularly noted. Passing references regarding the influence of the Paradiso on the Four Quartets, do of course appear in the works of some of these critics. Mr. Preston notes that the prayer to the Lady of the Promontory in The Dry Salvages reflects the prayer of St. Bernard in the Paradiso. Mr. Matthiessen, quoting the last lines of the Paradiso about the fire and the rose, observes “That out of their context these lines may seem to be merely a decorative allusion to Dante’s Paradiso." However, a careful reading of the poems reveals, it appears to me, some very close connections with Dante's Paradiso. Connections so close that I think that the Four Quartets could well be called ”T. S. Eliot’s Paradiso.” I plan in this paper therefore to show, first: that in addition to these incidental references, there are hitherto unnoted similarities which exert a profound influence on the Four Quartets, and secondly: that a consideration of the Paradiso in relation to the Four Quartets leads to a deeper appreciation of the poems.