earticle

영어

Contrary to the general expectations of Eliot scholars, Bradley and Bergson have some common elements in their epistemological attitudes. Whereas Bergson shows both monistic and dualistic attitudes in his philosophical approach, Bradley reveals a thoroughly monistic approach to the philosophical problems. As the two most influential philosophers on Eliot’s philosophical studies and poetics, Bergson and Bradley seemed incompatible with each other’s philosophical attitude. Therefore, most of Eliot scholars tried to read Eliot’s poetry in exclusive points of view, without the consideration of possibility of the two philosophers’ cohabitation in Eliot’s poetics. So, this paper aims at showing their coexistence in Eliot’s poetics and poetry. Focusing on Eliot’s major critical terms, “dissociation of sensibility” and “unification of sensibility,” this paper tried to prove that Eliot’s poetic ideal “unification of sensibility,” the opposite poetic state of the “dissociation of sensibility,” reflects the monistic attitudes which are shared by the two philosophers. In particular, Eliot’s major poems represent the monistic experience of our life and world, with the techniques of allusion, paradox, symbolism, or the vague or ambiguous use of pronouns, which all contribute to their poetic effect of expressing the “unified sensibility.”