Etienne Terblanche teaches and researches poetry at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University in South Africa

In this groundbreaking study of T. S. Eliot’s work, Terblanche draws on ecocriticism and Buddhism to argue that the poet had a profound relationship with the earth, defined as a system of material and aesthetic realities in which humans are entangled and interconnected. His readings of ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ The Waste Land, and Four Quartets demonstrate Eliot’s awareness of Becoming and his belief in keeping time with the changes of our lives. Building on the insights of ‘new materialism,’ he convincingly supports Eliot’s belief in poetry as embodiment. In this fine study, Terblanche both extends and interrogates previous criticism on the twentieth-century’s premier poet.

• Introduction and Chapter Outline: T. S. Eliot, Nature Poet?Chapter 1Rock Solid Proof, Or: The Matter with PrufrockChapter 2Dislocation: Dearth, Desert, and Global WarmingChapter 3Location: Mandalic Structure in The Waste LandChapter 4Immersion: The Authentic Jellyfish, the True Church, and the HippopotamusChapter 5Dissolving: The Name of the Lotos RoseChapter 6Bad Orientalism: Eliot, Edward Said, and the MohaChapter 7The Tyrannies of Differentiation: Eliot, New Materialism, and “Infinite Semiosis”ConclusionWhere does the Truth of New Materialism Lie?: A Response Based on Eliot’s Poetry

Etienne Terblanche teaches and researches poetry at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University in South Africa

In this groundbreaking study of T. S. Eliot’s work, Terblanche draws on ecocriticism and Buddhism to argue that the poet had a profound relationship with the earth, defined as a system of material and aesthetic realities in which humans are entangled and interconnected. His readings of ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ The Waste Land, and Four Quartets demonstrate Eliot’s awareness of Becoming and his belief in keeping time with the changes of our lives. Building on the insights of ‘new materialism,’ he convincingly supports Eliot’s belief in poetry as embodiment. In this fine study, Terblanche both extends and interrogates previous criticism on the twentieth-century’s premier poet.

• Introduction and Chapter Outline: T. S. Eliot, Nature Poet?Chapter 1Rock Solid Proof, Or: The Matter with PrufrockChapter 2Dislocation: Dearth, Desert, and Global WarmingChapter 3Location: Mandalic Structure in The Waste LandChapter 4Immersion: The Authentic Jellyfish, the True Church, and the HippopotamusChapter 5Dissolving: The Name of the Lotos RoseChapter 6Bad Orientalism: Eliot, Edward Said, and the MohaChapter 7The Tyrannies of Differentiation: Eliot, New Materialism, and “Infinite Semiosis”ConclusionWhere does the Truth of New Materialism Lie?: A Response Based on Eliot’s Poetry

Etienne Terblanche teaches and researches poetry at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University in South Africa

In this groundbreaking study of T. S. Eliot’s work, Terblanche draws on ecocriticism and Buddhism to argue that the poet had a profound relationship with the earth, defined as a system of material and aesthetic realities in which humans are entangled and interconnected. His readings of ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ The Waste Land, and Four Quartets demonstrate Eliot’s awareness of Becoming and his belief in keeping time with the changes of our lives. Building on the insights of ‘new materialism,’ he convincingly supports Eliot’s belief in poetry as embodiment. In this fine study, Terblanche both extends and interrogates previous criticism on the twentieth-century’s premier poet.

• Introduction and Chapter Outline: T. S. Eliot, Nature Poet?Chapter 1Rock Solid Proof, Or: The Matter with PrufrockChapter 2Dislocation: Dearth, Desert, and Global WarmingChapter 3Location: Mandalic Structure in The Waste LandChapter 4Immersion: The Authentic Jellyfish, the True Church, and the HippopotamusChapter 5Dissolving: The Name of the Lotos RoseChapter 6Bad Orientalism: Eliot, Edward Said, and the MohaChapter 7The Tyrannies of Differentiation: Eliot, New Materialism, and “Infinite Semiosis”ConclusionWhere does the Truth of New Materialism Lie?: A Response Based on Eliot’s Poetry