부산대학교 도서관

Donne and Eliot are inseparable from each other. Eliot said he was influenced by many great artists and poets of the past, especially by Donne. So this article is going to discuss the topic of death and time that frequently appears in the two poets’ works. Praising the love of men and women, paradoxically, Donne states that death implies a process for new perfection, Eliot, on the other hand, uses death as an extensive literary figure more than Donne does. Eliot describes it not in a simple individual level, but in social and universal level. Time is also a constant vital problem that Eliot has faced in his literary work as well as his life. What Donne has done can be almost explained by love-theme in his poems. Eliot deals with the problems of time and history by addressing the problems of reality, so the problem of Eliot’s time clearly reflects his historical and real consciousness. The understanding of death in John Donne and T. S. Eliot’s works, therefore, is very critical in understanding the concepts of the time that they have subtlely revealed in their poems while the time is tightly associated with the concepts that the two poets have of death. Accordingly, exploring the matter of death and time in their works is a starting point to comprehend the real and ideal world that John Donne and T. S. Eliot have tried to establish through their life and works.