Abstract

Desire for Oblivion

The article focuses on the poetry book "Ash Wednesday," by T.S. Eliot. "Ash Wednesday" is a long ritualistic chant or prayer for the acceptance of faith. The poem is very difficult to interpret because it relies upon no ecstatic penetration of mysteries, but upon a symbolism not so much Catholic as it is personal. The theme of the entire first part of the poem is renunciation of life, of life which cannot find its reason for being as do trees and plants. Part two of the poem develops through a series of symbols. The poet never reaches, it seems, any overpowering certainty. There is more intensity in those lines which state the poetic desire for oblivion than in any affirming religious faith. Throughout, the mood is almost desperately sad.