“To Say Just What I Mean”: The Composition of the Self in T. S. Eliot’s Early Poetry

Abstract: This paper aims to underscore the significance of T. S. Eliot’s philosophical reconception of selfhood in his early poetry. The relativistic conception of the self that Eliot derives from his engagement with figures like F. H. Bradley underlies how the self-obsession of Eliot’s personae intersects with inquiries of knowledge and experience. The dialogue between Eliot the philosopher and Eliot the poet illuminates the continuity between his intellectual concerns and his literary-aesthetic principles.