T. S. Eliot and Organicism

Book excerpt: T. S. Eliot and Organicism provides the firstcomprehensive account of Eliot's preoccupation with agrarianism, organicism andthe environment. Jeremy Diaper elucidates and contextualizes several facets ofEliot's organic thinking, ranging from composting and soil fertility, toregionalism, nutrition and culinary skills. Through detailed examination ofEliot's engagement with organic issues, this book offers environmental readingsof Eliot's poetry and plays and demonstrates that agrarian concerns emerge as anotable theme in his literary output - from his earliest notebook of poemsknown as Inventions of the March Hareto Murder in the Cathedral. This bookalso analyzes Eliot's prose to illuminatehis engagement with the key environmental debates which were taking placeduring the 1930s-50s. Diaper offers a thorough analysis of Eliot's socialcriticism and explores his perturbation regarding the decline of agriculture inAfter Strange Gods, The Idea of a Christian Society and Notes Towards the Definition of Culture.T.S. Eliot and Organicismbreaks new ground by demonstrating that a thorough understanding of Eliot'sengagement with environmentalism is vital to our interpretation of both hispoetry and prose. It establishes that one of the twentieth century's mosteminent literary figures should be remembered for his important role in theemergence of the organic husbandry movement and for his wide-ranging commentson a variety of environmental and organic issues.