The Question of Religion in T. S. Eliot’s Poetry: “Ash-Wednesday” as a Case Study

Abstract

This article puts under scrutiny the religious manifestations in Eliot’s devotional poetry and the meditative questions that he raises. To do so, it limits the scope of my analytical reading to one of his well-known meditative poems, “Ash-Wednesday.” I shall start with a theoretical analysis of his famous article, “Religion and Literature” and argue for the presence of its milestone ideas in Eliot’s poetry taking “Ash-Wednesday as a case study.” The study also discerns Eliot’s renunciation of the main tenets of Romanticism which he made use of before his conversion.