FRAMING DANTE AT HARVARD: A STUDY OF EARLY DANTEAN TRACES IN ELIOT’S “CIRCE’S PALACE”
FRAMING DANTE AT HARVARD: A STUDY OF EARLY DANTEAN TRACES IN ELIOT’S “CIRCE’S PALACE”

Summary/Abstract: This article examines Eliot’s “Circe’s Palace”, which he wrote during his student years at Harvard. The conducted analysis surveys several images, namely: that of an unnamed female figure, of a garden, of flowers, and of a fountain. The selected images have been discussed in relation to the transitional section of the “Divine Comedy – “Purgatory.” More specifically, the sequence of images in question has been paralleled to Dante’s encounter with Matelda and his arrival in Earthly Paradise, which spans the development of the events starting from “Canto XXVIII” onwards. This article advances the tentative conjecture that the female figure from Eliot’s poem could be viewed as an evocation of Matelda, the garden – as an allusion to the Garden of Eden, the flowers – as a reference to the flowers which Matelda gathers, and the fountain – as the source from which the Lethe and Eunoe spring forth. In the course of the conducted analysis this article also addresses the specific nature of Eliot’s poetic image in “Circe’s Palace” which poses certain problems for the development of the parallel between the two texts. A possible solution to this problem is conveyed and a remark related to the transference of religious and theological symbols from “Purgatory” to “Circe’s Palace” is also conveyed.

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