Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1976) is a poet, critic and playwright, a pioneer of modern literature and a representative of post-symbolism.

T. T. S. Eliot is such a figure that can never be neglected when studying English literature, the major focuses of the studies on him are his literary criticism and poetry: the former includes his theories of impersonal poetry, objective correlative and tradition and individual talent, while the latter mainly consists of his three representative works: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land and Four Quartets, in which The Waste Land remains a principal subject and studies on Four Quartets are gradually increasing these recent years.

Previous western studies on him are clearly affected by Eliot’s own theory of impersonal writing and close reading theory of New Criticism, which put the emphasis on explanation and elaboration of Eliot’s poems while depriving of his personal experience. Eliot scholar Grover Smith’s T. S. Eliot’s Poetry and Plays: A Study in Sources and Meaning(1956) explored Eliot’s poetic artistry through exhaustive study on those ample allusions in his works.

The research trend during 1970s and 80s included the individual experience of the poet himself as a result of the decline of New Criticism, the renowned biography T. S. Eliot(1985) by Peter Ackroyd introduced Eliot’s personal experience and mental experience to readers in great detail.

After the turn of 20^th century, continual research results have been produced. A Study of the Globalized Acceptance of T. S. Eliot(2007) contained studies on the acceptance of Eliot in world wide, which included the essay of Chinese Eliot expert Liu Lihui. In 2011, Harold Bloom published the collection of Eliot’s critical essays, consisting of 10 representing essays on Eliot ever since 1985, in which we can take a glance at the holistic research trend in terms of Eliot’s literary works.

Domestic research on Eliot has undergone two climaxes since 1920s and 30s. During the 20s and 30s, Eliot’s three representative works were all introduced into China and translated as a result of the May 4^th Movement(1919). Mr. Ye Gongchao had first introduced Eliot, and Mr. Zhao Luorui’s translation of The Waste Land was the first full text version of this epic poem.

The second climax came along with Chinese policy of Economic Reform and Open Up, remarkable accomplishments of the study on Eliot have been rendered during this period. Translations of more of Eliot’s poems, literary criticisms and biographies have appeared, a circle of Eliot experts has come into existence, including Zhao Luorui (1979), Qiu Xiaolong (1985), Zhang Jian (1996), Yuan Kejia (1979), etc. An academic society of Pound and Eliot has also been established and has published several authoritative essays on Eliot.

Eliot’s ample allusions, including mythologies, Christian legends, previous and current literature, the Bible and folk ballads, and his modernist techniques, such as polyphony of voices, emotional fallacy and free association, are usual aspects of study in both at home and abroad.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

This paper mainly focuses on the study of Eliot’s religious sense shown in his poems, mainly consisting of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land and Four Quartets, which includes his attitude towards religion and faith, usage of religious images and combining effects on his works of this religious sense. The paper will be divided into two parts, respectively his early and lateral writing periods with his conversion to Anglicanism in 1927 being the separating line, during his early writing period, as exemplified by The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot exhibited the powerlessness and doomed state of modern society by the inner voice of an aging young man struggling whether to pay court to his beloved one, and while his impotence was destined to lead him to failure, the society was also doomed to destruction unless urgent action was to be taken; in Eliot’s lateral wring time, however, after the devastating experience of World War II and his failing marriage, he deemed conformity to religion to be the urgent action, and the sense of curing and saving the suffocating world through faith is commonly seen in his works like Four Quartets, his usage of religious images had also turned to be more delicate and associative than before, the musicality of his poetic artistry had been another innovation of his style, his theory of experience and tradition had been combined more profoundly in his poetry and plays as in The Cocktail Party. In despite of the fact that he had undergone a contradictory treatment in terms of his conversion in religion and style, with Ezra Pound (1885-1972), his close friend and fellow writer, sighed over his decline in poetic artistry and George Orwell (1903-1950), who was deeply influenced by Eliot, criticized his conversion to be a kind of degeneration, Eliot’s conversion actually displayed the consummation and upgrading of both his religious sense and his poetic skills. Under the guidance of this main goal, various resources will be searched to identify the topic for the paper, including foreign and national journals and published essays, and holistic analysis of these raw data will be conducted and concluded in the paper, serving as the supporting material of the author’s individual study and research into the subject matter.

[1] Araujo, A. D. T. S. Eliot and the Literature of Fascism[J]. California Italian Studies: 2017, 7(2).