THE ROLE OF DRYLANDS AND WATER IN T.S. ELIOT’S POETRY
THE ROLE OF DRYLANDS AND WATER IN T.S. ELIOT’S POETRY

Summary/Abstract: T.S. Eliot remains one of the most critically-acclaimed modernist poets in the English-speaking world and his poetry provides, some may say, an endless opportunity for scrutiny. Of the many themes that can be found in the author’s work, the excess or lack of water is a recurring one. Perhaps one of the most relevant, this theme is nevertheless analyzed in very few sources on its own. The present paper tackles the notion of outer spaces in T.S. Eliot’s poems by portraying their relationship with water. To this end, the study is segmented into five parts, each dedicated to such an outer space – mountains, rivers, the sea, deserts and gardens – with the end goal of answering several questions which may prove useful in the pursuit of understanding the poetic message of T.S. Eliot. The first question is how water is regarded and to what extent it is rendered as a beneficial or malicious element. The second question is how the identity of the individual is affected by its dependency on it. By answering these questions, not only do we hope to better outline the nature of the outer spaces T.S. Eliot employs, but also what makes this theme an important factor for the success and uncanny familiarity that the poet’s work still benefits from.

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