module b exemplar essay ts eliot

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T.S. Eliot Exemplar Essay - Module B HSC English Advanced

The following essay was written by Fenna Kroon, Project's English Resourcer!

Fenna Kroon

94 in English Advanced

English Advanced Module B Exemplar Essay - T.S. Eliot

Module b essay question.

“When you engage with works of quality you often feel, and continue to feel, that your internal planes have shifted, and that things will never quite be the same again.”

To what extent does this statement resonate with your considered perspective of TS Eliot’s poetry？

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HSC English Exemplar Essay Response

Good literature has the power to take us as readers on a journey with the author. This is evident in TS Eliot’s modernist suit of poetry TS Eliot: Selected Poetry, particularly ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ (Love Song) (1915) as well as ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925). These texts and their use of literary devices provide readers with a glimpse into another perspective from a time long gone. As a result, our own views and internal planes are challenged and altered. This change is permanent, exposing readers to ideas beyond their own. Thus, these poems have shaped the views of countless individuals and will continue to do so to a large extent.

When confronted with literature that is challenging and engaging, the individual has no option but to ponder its central messages. In ‘Love Song’, Eliot establishes this through prolific use of the Flanuer, connoisseur of the streets and a lonely, observing wanderer. Created within a context of mass urbanisation and mechanisation, this figure walks through new streets and society that is continually changing. Personally, this poem was finished shortly after the death of Eliot’s close friend, Jean Verdenel in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and hence this poem encapsulates the futility of conflict as well as modern society. This is evident in the opening lines as the flaneur says “Let us go then you and I / as the evening is spread out against the sky / like a patient etherised on a table.” This stark and confronting juxtaposition mirrors that of the title where ‘love song’, with musical and romantic connotations, is juxtaposed with ‘J Alfred Prufrock’ as a proper noun. This consequently results in readers immediately feeling uncomfortable as their expectations for what to expect within traditional poetry are crushed. Exacerbated through repetition as he writes “There will be time, there will be time.”, Eliot comments on how his society has made him passive, procrastinating the search for meaning with temporary satisfactions. He further comments on British high society, questioning whether “Should I, after tea and cake and ices, have the strength to force this moment to its crisis?”. Here, Eliot and the flaneur are begging themselves to find the strength to create their own meaning in society. Thus, they reach out to the audience to change their ways，acting as a cautionary tale for the ambivalence the two experience. Finally, this is exemplified as Eliot writes “I have seen moments of my greatness flicker” and the visual connotation of achievements as flickering like a candle indicate how Eliot believes that a modernist society inhibits individuals from being their own person and finding meaning. As John Xiros Cooper so effectively summarised, “[modernist society] make us passively abject.” This highlights how Eliot’s context minimised his ability to find peace and understanding. Within a world of upheaval, the individual becomes lost. Reading this as a contemporary audience, it is impossible to ignore our own suffocating society of change. Consequently, this poem allows for readers to understand the futility of their attempts of finding the meaning of life and existence. This ultimately shifts their internal understanding irrevocably and unchangingly.

Further, the futility of life and religion leave readers with no guidance or advice in finding continuity. This is evident in Eliot’s The Hollow Men, which uses an extended metaphor of the river Styx (the purgatorial border between life and death) and intertextual references to establish the meaningless nature of a life without faith. After suffering a nervous breakdown and institutionalisation in 1921, this poem is a manifestation of this desolation and pain. Evident as he writes “This is the dead land. This is the cactus land.” the allusion to Dante’s Divine Comedies, a text discussing hell and purgatory, it becomes evident that the setting of the poem is one of indecision and judgement. This is further established through the epigraph alluding to Guy Fawkes, “A penny for the old guy”and to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as he writes “Mistah Kurtz - he dead”. Both these allusions discuss legacy and how you’re remembered once you die. Fawke’s death is celebrated by children to this day, with Mr Kurtz repenting on his deathbed, begging “What have I done?”. Consequently, Eliot’s inclusion of these two epigraphs at the beginning of his poem create lingering questions of what death means and what an unsatisfying life means. Hence, as he writes “We are the Hollow men. We are the stuffed men.”, the inclusive language of ‘we’ draws all readers into the discussion of whether they’ve lived a worthy life. Eliot links this to religious pursuits as he writes “Lips that should kiss / form prayers to broken stone”. This alludes to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, comparing their romance to the paradoxical nature of religion. Providing both a mechanism for damnation in Hell as well as eternal salvation，Eliot questions whether a religious life would in any form change his circumstance. Xiros Cooper effectively expands on this, arguing that “We are not surprised when it ends with a defeated stammer”. Essentially, Eliot’s consistent allusions to other texts and metaphors to being ‘hollow’ create a questioning persona surrounding life and religion and its influence on judgement. Consequently, readers are forced to go on this journey with Eliot as they engage with this poem, considering their own answers relating to life, death and purgatory. And, once these questions are in your head, they are impossible to get out.

Having considered Eliot’s suite as a whole，it is evident that his poetry impacts readers on a fundamental level because it discusses issues pertinent to everyone. This is particularly true for The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Hollow Men, discussing the dangers of a changing society and purgatory itself respectively. As a result, the reader’s understanding of themselves and their broader society is fundamentally and permanently altered.

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Hsc module b: band 6 notes on t.s. eliot’s poetry.

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Module B is also called a ‘critical study of literature’. Hence, it is important to:

1.   Make personal and intellectual connections with the text. You must try to have your own ideas about what the composer is trying to convey. For Eliot’s poetry, many students only focus on its bleak and depressing aspects, yet it is extremely important to also perceive its subtle allusions to hope and salvation, especially in later works.

2.   Understand textual integrity – that means you must look at the texts as a cohesive unit, or as a whole. Focus on the connections in the prescribed suite of poetry – the scrutinising “eyes”, the monotony of modern life, decadence of social values, etc.

3.   Take note of the context and structure of each poem – although this is not module A, understanding the context of each poem allows you to comprehend the significance and artistry of Eliot’s poems. For example, without knowing anything about Modernism, how is it possible to appreciate how well Eliot captures the lethargy and decay in his era?

Historical Context: The Early 1900s

Historically, Eliot’s poetry captures the turmoil of a generation transitioning from the Romantic era to the demoralised landscape of Modernism. Modernism became even more prominent after World War I, where the value of human life and civilisation was heavily questioned by the general public. This period in time was generally associated with subverting Victorian/Romantic ideals, secularity (deviance from religion), industrialism and technological advancement. In particular, technological advancements became synonymous to social upheaval for many in the late 1800s to early 1900s, for people feared their efficiency will change society too much for people to ever adjust to.

Literary Context:

History is often reflected in literature. During the Modernist era, composers became more experimental, often rebelling against well-established conventions to reflect reality more closely. Not only is this evident in the structure of Eliot’s poetry, it is also quite obvious in his titles (e.g. The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Preludes , Rhapsody on a Windy Night).

Personal Context

Traditionally, Eliot’s ‘early works’ include:

·      The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

·      Preludes

·      Rhapsody

And his ‘later’ works include:

·      The Hollow Men

·      Journey of the Magi

By ‘Journey of the Magi’, Eliot had become an Anglican, hence the heavy religious references.

There are many themes in Eliot’s poetry, but try to avoid ones that are too vague/overdone.

For example, instead of writing a paragraph on ‘uncertainty’, make it more nuanced and specific, e.g. uncertainty because of paradigmatic shifts. That way, not only have you shown your personal understanding of his poetry, your essay will also stand out against essays which demonstrate only a superficial understanding of the poems.

Some prominent, yet interesting points you could write about in your essay include:

·      Paradigmatic shifts and uncertainty

·      Loss of spirituality and secularity

·      Superficiality and materialism

·      Loss of purpose and search for meaning

·      Physical setting of the Modernist landscape reflecting psychological/internal uncertainty

·      Possibility of redemption

Want to know more about these ideas? JP English provides text specific booklets written by state rankers which outlines the key ideas of each poems to guide students into developing their own nuanced arguments. Furthermore, we provide exemplars from ex-students who have achieved state ranks or 95+ English HSC marks so that students know exactly what is needed to ace Module B.

Special Structural/Stylistic features of each poem

Here are some features of Eliot’s poetry that I found particularly unique and intriguing. Of course, there are so many others, but here are some of the main ones.

The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock

·      The title itself is extremely ironic. ‘Love Song’ suggests intimacy and connection and yet this is completely subverted by Prufrock’s pedantic, ambiguous narrative of isolation and disconnection.

·      The various intertextual allusions towards the end of the poem.

o   “I know the voices dying with a dying fall” is from Shakespeare’s  Twelfth Night

o   “ I am Lazarus, come from the dead” is a biblical allusion to Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead.

o   Prufrock rejects the idea that he is Prince Hamlet, a character whose tragedy could arguably be said to have borne out of his indecision.

·      The idea of Prufrock as a flaneur, a wanderer amidst the modern landscape.

·      Again, the title is very ironic. T he cohesive lyricism of the Romantic preludes is completely subverted by Eliot’s very disturbing portrait of sordid Modernist imageries.

·      The pronouns shift from section to section, examining the society from different perspectives.

Rhapsody on a Windy Night

·      Again, Eliot appropriates the episodic, free-flowing structure of Romantic Rhapsodies while inspiring the portrait of a fractured and denigrated world.

·      There’s also quite an evident struggle between nature (the feeble, voiceless moon) and humanity (the narrating streetlamp).

·      The recurring time motifs, “Twelve o’clock”, “Half past one”, “Half past two”, etc places emphasis on the regularity and indifference of time.

The Hollow Man

·      The various intertextual allusions in this poem:

o   It begins with an allusion to Joseph Conrad’s ‘Mistah Kurtz’, a sinister imperialist.

o   The epigram, ‘a penny for the Guy’, refers to the Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes

o   “The twilight kingdom” is an allusion to Dante’s hell

o   “Here we go around the prickly pear” is an allusion to the nursery rhyme/children’s song “Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush”.

·      This is somewhat debatable, but it could be said that this poem depicts a world where religious entities and cosmic powers are apathetic to human suffering.

Journey of the Magi

·      Eliot’s recent conversion to Anglicanism inspired his intertextual reflection on traditional ideals of Christianity through appropriating the “Three Wise Men” in seeking Jesus.

·      The hedonistic materialism of “summer palaces on slopes” is quite evident in the early stanzas

·      In this poem, the search for meaning is both a spiritual and literal journey.

·      Read scholar articles – for Eliot, there are so many excellent articles out there. They help you articulate your ideas and inspire you to view the text from a different perspective. Just go on Google Scholar and type ‘Eliot poetry’. There are so many resources there!

·      Practice! – the only way to get better is through practice. Not only does JP English provide you with ample exercises, but they also provide weekly feedback so you can improve.

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Essay On TS Elliot (Module B)

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Resource Description

This was my HSC and trial essay for Module B Critical Study of Literature (TS Eliot). I got 16/20 for this essay – it’s not a perfect essay but should be a good guide and starting point for anyone preparing!

T.S. Eliot’s depiction of the degradation of humanity through his modernist poetry not only demonstrates an insightful encapsulation of humanity’s inability to articulate meaning in a world of chaos, but metaphorically embodies the contextual struggles of Eliot’s own time. Despite Eliot’s firm belief in New Criticism, from a contemporary examination, his work is highly reflective of the world events and personal struggles Eliot carried throughout his writing career. His exploration of universal ideas such as alienation and humanity’s disconnection from themselves and the world around them, as seen in Rhapsody on a Windy Night and The Hollow Men, was inspired by a sense of loneliness and alienation from a childhood of limited interactions with others due to physical disability, as well as living through the dehumanising horrors of WWI. This resonates with modern audiences, particularly in the world’s current climate, who too have witnessed the sordid state of humanity and can relate to Eliot’s sentiments of disillusionment and misery.

The notion of disconnection, both from ourselves and the world around us, is a prevalent component of the degradation of humanity and has been an increasing burden on mankind. This notion is incorporated throughout Eliot’s poem Rhapsody on a Windy Night, significantly emphasised in the simile, “as a madman shakes a dead geranium”, in which the dead geranium, a plant generally adept at survival, is symbolic of man’s disconnection from the natural world. This is additionally evidenced in the imagery, “remark the cat which flattens itself in the gutter, slips out its tongue and devours a morsel of rancid butter”, perfectly elucidating man’s abandonment of living creates other than themselves. This is particularly significant to current audiences, who have lived through the decimation of the environment, the extinction of many animal species and global warming as consequences of man’s disconnection from the natural world. The notion of disconnection is further exemplified in the allusion, “La Lune Ne Garde Aucune Rancune”, translating to “the moon holds no grudges”. This significantly illustrates the disconnection of humanity, as even their own moon is disconnected and has given up on Earth.

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Re: Module B essays- T.S Eliot

Hey guys! For Module B we are using five T.S Eliot texts and I'm struggling to integrate all of them into my essays (especially seeing that I don't really understand the texts) and I'm  finding it difficult to structure it. but anyway, I'm really stuck so if anybody has any tips I would really appreciate it!! Thanks heaps

Hey there! Have a look at these two resources here that past students (one being our modern lecturer) have uploaded! Also, you won't need to include all poems in the one response. I did poems for Module B as well, except written by Yeats, and I'd talk in detail about two texts in an essay, maybe a third in some kind of brief reference. It's not needed for a Module B response to talk about them all at once, because you can't go into detail as intensively, so you're compromising analysis. So I looked at which of my poems had similar themes, so everything was in a pair or a trio for particular themes, and of course there were overlaps. With the poem I was most comfortable with, I actively tried to make lots of links so that I would increase my chances of hopefully being able to use my preferred text!

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Our material is co-authored by multiple state-rankers and will equip you with complete understanding of how to excel in this text. At Concept, we pride ourselves on having the highest quality resources to assist you in navigating the HSC English Advanced course. These course material booklets have been specifically designed by experienced English tutors looking to craft the optimal resources to help you with exactly what you need in order to excel in the subject. This means no filler material that you need to sift through, and sophisticated content that you can't find on the internet. Learn exactly what you need to craft a top scoring essay and save time trying to find your own quotes to argue a specific theme or idea.

Module B: T.S. Eliot Poetry

$ 350.00 aud, $ 199.00 aud.

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150+ pages of analysis of TS Eliot's poems written by students who have topped the state in English Advanced.

Each course material purchase comes with 3 separate booklets, including:

• Complex deconstruction of Module B and TS Eliot's context, the purpose of his poetry, and how to approach the essay.
• 10 theme break downs (2 per poem) & 10 analysis tables per theme (over 100 quotes analysed)
• Over 10 sample full mark and state rank sample essays.  

This preview contains 1/10 of the theme breakdowns and 1/10 of the analysis tables we have.

• Comprehensive theme breakdowns per poem (2 per poem)
• In depth, Line by line analysis per poem that you can directly use in your essays. (over 100 quotes analysed)
• Essay breakdowns so you know how to structure your essay
• Over 10 full mark sample essays from students who have scored 95+ in the HSC English Advanced Paper and have state ranked in NSW

‍ This is a digital product. Upon purchase, you will receive a PDF of the resource booklet.