t.s. eliot as conservative mentor

7/27/2019 T.S. Eliot as Conservative Mentor

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44 THEINTERCOLLEGIATEREVIEWFall2003/Spring2004

Roger Scruton

T.S.EliotasConservativeMentor

RogerScrutonwasafellowofPeterhouse,Cambridge

UniversityandaReader inPhilosophyatBirkbeck

College,UniversityofLondon.Amonghismostrecent

books areEngland:AnElegy(2000)andTheWestand

theRest(ISIBooks,2002).

T. S. Eliot was indisputably the greatestpoet writing in English in the twentieth

century.Hewas alsothemostrevolution-

aryAnglophoneliterarycriticsinceSamuel

Johnson,andthemostinfluentialreligious

thinkerintheAnglicantraditionsincethe

Wesleyanmovement.His social andpoliti-

cal vision is contained inall his writings,

andhas beenabsorbedandreabsorbedby

generationsofEnglishandAmericanread-

ers,uponwhomitexertsanalmostmystical

fascinationevenwhentheyaremoved,as

many are, to reject it.Without Eliot, thephilosophyofToryismwouldhavelostall

substanceduringthelastcentury.Andwhile

not explicitly intending it, Eliot set this

philosophyonahigherplaneintellectu-

ally,spiritually,andstylisticallythanhas

everbeenreachedbytheadherents ofthe

socialist idea.

Eliot attempted to shape aphilosophy

forourtimes thatwouldbericherandmore

truetothecomplexityofhumanneeds than

thefree-marketpanaceas thathavesooften

dominatedthethinkingofconservativesin

government.Heassignedacentral placein

his social thinking tohighculture.Hewas

athoroughtraditionalistinhis beliefs but

anadventurousmodernistinhis art,hold-

ing artisticmodernism and social tradi-

tionalismtobedifferentfacetsofacommon

enterprise.Modernisminartwas,forEliot,

an attempt to salvage and fortify a living

artistictraditioninthefaceofthecorrup-

tionanddecayofpopularculture.

Eliot was born inStLouis,Missouri, in1888, and educated at Harvard, the

Sorbonne, and Merton College,Oxford,

where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the

philosophy of F. H. Bradley, whose

Hegelian visionof society exerted apro-

foundinfluenceoverhim.Hecame,asdid

somanyeducatedAmericansofhis genera-

tion,fromaprofoundlyreligious andpub-

lic-spiritedbackground,althoughhis earlypoems suggestableakanddespairing ag-

nosticism, which he only gradually and

painfullyovercame. In 1914hemet Ezra

Pound, who encouragedhim to settle in

England.Hemarriedduring thefollowing

year,whichalsosawthepublicationofhis

firstsuccessfulpoem,TheLoveSongofJ.

AlfredPrufrock.This work,togetherwith

theothershortpoems thatwerepublished

along withitasPrufrockandOtherObserva-

tionsin1917,profoundlyalteredthecourse

of English literature. They were the first

trulymodernistworks inEnglish,although

themostvisibleinfluencesontheirimagery

anddictionwerenotEnglishbutFrench


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T.S.EliotasConservativeMentorbyRogerScruton


Londonbank,andtheninthepublishing

houseofFaberandFaber,whichhemade

intotheforemostpublisherofpoetryandcriticisminits day.His unhappyfirstmar-

riagedidnotimpedehis activeparticipa-

tion in the literary life of London, over

whichheexertedaninfluenceeverybitas

greatas AndrBretonovertheliterarylife

ofParis.

His refusal,throughall this,toadoptthe

mantleofthebohemian,toclaimthetinsel

crown of artist, or to

mock the bourgeois

lifestyle, sets him apart

fromthecontinental tra-

ditionwhichheotherwise

didsomuchtopromote.

Herealised thatthetrue

task of the artist in the

modernworldis onenot

ofrepudiationbutofrec-

onciliation.ForEliot,the

artist inherits, inheight-

ened and self-conscious

form,theverysameanxi-

eties thatarethestuffofordinaryexperi-ence.Thepoetwho takeshiswords seri-

ouslyis thevoiceofmankind,interceding

forthosewholivearoundhim,andgaining

on their behalf the gift of consciousness

withwhichtoovercomethewretchedness

ofsecularlife.Hetooisanordinarybour-

geois,andhis highestprizeis toliveunno-

ticedamidstthosewhoknownothingofhis

artas thesaintmayliveunnoticedamong

thoseforwhomhedies.

Tofindth

er

ootsofEliotspoliticalt

hin

k-ing,wemustgobacktothemodernismthat

foundsuchstrikingexpressioninTheWaste

Land.Englishliteratureintheearlypartof

thetwentiethcenturywastoagreatextent

capturedbypre-modernimagery,byrefer-

ences toaformoflife(suchas wefindin

ThomasHardy)thathadvanishedforever,

andbyverseforms whichderivedfromthe

repertoireofromanticisolation.Ithadnot

undergone that extraordinary education

whichBaudelaire and his successors had

imposedupontheFrenchinwhichanti-quatedforms likethesonnetwerewrenched

freeoftheirpastoral andreligious conno-

tations andfittedoutwiththelanguageof

themoderncity,inordertoconveythenew

andhallucinatory senseof an irreparable

fault,wherebymodernmanisdividedfrom

all thathas precededhim.Eliots admira-

tionforBaudelairearosefromhis desireto

write verse that was as

truetotheexperienceof

the modern city as

Baudelaires hadbeento

the experience of Paris.

Eliot also recognized in

Baudelairethenewchar-

acterofthereligious im-

pulse under the condi-

tionsofmodernlife:The

important fact about

Baudelaire,hewrote,is

thathe was essentially a

Christian,bornoutofhis

duetime,andaclassicist,bornoutofhisduetime.

Eliots indictmentoftheneo-romantic

literatureofhis daywas notmerelyaliter-

ary complaint.Hebelieved thathis con-

temporariesuseof worn-outpoeticdic-

tionandlilting rhythms betrayedaserious

moral weakness:afailuretoobservelifeas

itreallyis,afailuretofeel whatmustbefelt

towards theexperiencethatis inescapably

ours.And this failure isnotconfined,he

believed, to lite

r

atur

e,bu

trun

s thr

ou

gh

thewholeofmodernlife.Thesearchfora

new literary idiom is therefore part of a

larger searchfor the reality ofmodern

experience.Onlythencanweconfrontour

situationandaskourselves whatshouldbe

doneabout it.

Eliots deepdistrustofsecularhuman-

ismandof the socialistanddemocratic

ideasofsocietywhichhebelievedtostem

T.S. Eliot, 1888-1965


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traditionofbelief,ofbehavior,andofhis-

toricalallegiance,thatwillgivesenseand

meaningtothecommunity.Therealsig-nificanceofareligionlies less intheabstract

doctrinethanintheinstitutionswhichcause

ittoendure.Itlies alsointhesacraments

andceremonies, inwhich theeternalbe-

comes presentandwhatmighthavebeen

coincides withwhatis.

ForEliot,therefore,conversionwas notamattermerelyofacknowledgingthetruth

ofChrist.Itinvolvedaconscious gestureof

belonging,wherebyheunitedhis poetical

labors withtheperpetual laboroftheAn-

glicanchurch.FortheAnglicanchurchis

peculiar in this: that ithasneverdefined

itself as protestant, that it has always

soughttoacceptratherthanprotestagainst

its inheritance,whileembracing thedaring

belief that the truths ofChristianityhave

beenofferedinalocalformtothepeopleof

England.Itis achurchwhichtakes its his-

torical nature seriously, acknowledging

that its duty is less to spread the gospel

amongmankindthantosanctifyaspecificcommunity.Andinordertofititselfforthis

role,theAnglicanchurchhas,throughits

divines and liturgists, shaped the English

languageaccording totheChristianmes-

sage,whilealsobringing thatmessageinto

the here and now of England. In Little

Gidding,thelastoftheFourQuartets,the

poetfindshimselfinthevillageretreatwhere

anAnglicansainthadretiredtopraywith

his family.Heconveys whattomanyis the

etern

altru

th

ofth

eAn

glican

con

fession

,in

lines which are among themost famous

thathaveeverbeenwritteninEnglish:

Ifyoucamethisway,

Taking anyroute,starting fromanywhere,

Atanytimeoratanyseason,

Itwouldalwaysbethesame:youwouldhavetoput

off

Senseandnotion.Youarenotheretoverify,

Instructyourself,orinformcuriosity

Orcarryreport.Youareheretokneel

Whereprayerhas beenvalid.Andprayerismore

Thananorderofwords,theconsciousoccupation

Oftheprayingmind,orthesoundofthevoice

praying.

Andwhatthedeadhadnospeechfor,whenliving,

Theycantellyou,beingdead:thecommunication

Ofthedeadis tonguedwithfirebeyondthelan-

guageoftheliving.

Here,theintersectionofthetimelessmoment

IsEnglandandnowhere.Neverandalways.4

Later,returning tothis themeofcommuni-

cationwiththedeadourdeadandre-

ferring tothosebriefmoments ofmeaning

whicharetheonlysuregiftofsensibility,Eliotcompletesthethought:

Wearebornwiththedead:

See,theyreturn,andbring us withthem.

Themomentoftheroseandthemomentofthe

yew-tree

Areofequalduration.Apeoplewithouthistory

Isnotredeemedfromtime,forhistoryis apattern

Oftimelessmoments.So,whilethelightfails

Onawintersafternoon,inasecludedchapel

Historyis nowandEngland.5

Much has been written about LittleGidding,theatmosphereofwhichstays in

themindof every cultivated Englishman

whoreads it.Whatis important,however,

is less theatmosphereofthepoemthanthe

thought which advances through it. For

hereEliotachieves thatforwhichheenvies

Dantenamely,apoetryofbelief,inwhich

beliefandwords areone,andinwhichthe

thought cannot be prized free from the

controlledandbeautiful language.More-

over, there is one influence throughout

whichisinescapabletheKingJamesBible,

andtheAnglican liturgythatgrewalong-

sideit.Withoutbeing consciouslybiblical,

and whileusing onlymodern and collo-

quialEnglish,Eliotendows his versewith

theauthorityofliturgy,andwiththereso-

nanceoffaith.


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THEINTERCOLLEGIATEREVIEWFall2003/Spring2004 53

Theselinestakeusbacktothecorebeliefofmodern conservatism, which Burke ex-pressedinthefollowing terms:Society,he

wrote,is indeedacontract;butnotacon-

tractamong the living only;rather,itis a

partnershipbetween the living, thedead,

andthoseyettobeborn.And,heargued,

only those who listen to thedead are fit

custodians of future generations. Eliots

complextheoryoftraditiongives senseand

form to this idea. For he

makes clear that themost

importantthing thatfuture

generationscaninheritfrom

us is ourculture.Cultureis

therepositoryofanexperi-

encewhich is atonce local

and placeless, present and

timeless,theexperienceofa

communityas sanctifiedby

time. This we can pass on

only if we too inherit it.

Therefore,wemustlistento

thevoices of thedead,and

capturetheirmeaning inthosebrief,elu-sivemomentswhenHistory isnowand

England.Inareligious community,such

moments areapartofeverydaylife.Forus,

inthemodernworld,religionandculture

areboth tobe gained through a workof

sacrifice.But it is a sacrificeupon which

everything depends.Hence,byanextraor-

dinaryroute,themodernistpoetbecomes

the traditionalist priest: and the stylistic

achievement of the first is one with the

spir

itu

alach

ievem

entoft

heseco

nd.Tomanypeople,Eliots theoryofcul-

tureandtraditionis tooarduous,impos-

ing animpossibledutyupontheeducated

elite.Toothers,however,ithasbeenavital

inspiration. For let us ask ourselvesjust

what is required of one who knows.

Shouldhe, in themodern world,devote

himself likeSartreor Foucault tounder-

miningthestructuresofbourgeoissoci-

ety,toscoffing atmanners andmorals,and

ruiningtheinstitutionsuponwhichhede-

pendsforhisexaltedstatus?ShouldheplaythepartofamodernSocrates,questioning

everything andaffirming nothing?Should

he go along with themindless cultureof

play,thepost-modernistfantasyworldin

whichall ispermittedsinceneitherpermis-

sionnorinterdictionhaveanysense?

Toansweryes toanyofthosequestions is

ineffecttolivebynegation,tograntnothing

to human life beyond the

mockeryofit.Itis toinaugu-

rate and endorse the new

world of transgression, a

worldwhichwillnotrepro-

duceitself,sinceitwillunder-

minetheverymotivewhich

causesasocietytoreproduce.

Theconservativeresponseto

modernity is to embrace it,

buttoembraceitcritically,in

fullconsciousnessthathuman

achievements are rare and

precarious,thatwehaveno

God-givenrighttodestroyourinheritance,butmust always patiently submit to the

voiceoforderandsetanexampleoforderly

living.Thefutureofmankind,fortheso-

cialist, is simple: pull down the existing

order,andallowthefuturetoemerge.But

itwill notemerge,as weknow.Thesephi-

losophies ofthenewworldare lies and

delusions, products of a sentimentality

whichhas veiledthefactsofhumannature.

Wecandonothingunlesswefirstamend

our

selves.Th

etaskistor

ediscover

th

ewor

ldwhichmadeus,toseeourselves as partof

something greater,whichdepends uponus

forits survivalandwhichstillcanlivein

us, if we can achieve that condition of

completesimplicity/(Costing notless than

everything),towhichEliotdirects us.

Weshall notceasefromexploration

Andtheendofallourexploring

Will betoarrivewherewestarted


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Andknowtheplaceforthefirsttime.

Such

is th

econ

servativemessageforourtime.Itis amessagebeyondpolitics,ames-

sageofliturgicalweightandauthority.But

it is amessagewhichmustbereceived,if

humaneandmoderatepolitics is toremain

a possibility.

1.ForLancelotAndrewes(London:Faber,1970[1929]),

20.

2.TheUseofPoetryandtheUseofCriticism(Cam-bridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1886[1961]),22.

3.FourQuartets,inT.S.Eliot,TheCompletePoems

andPlays (London:FaberandFaber,1969),182.

4.FourQuartets,192.

5.FourQuartets,197.

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