Sárospataki Füzetek 12. (2008)
2008 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Frank Sawyer: A reading of T. S. Eliot's Ashwednesday
A READING OF T.S.ELIOT’SASH WEDNESDAY also means rising above the sins of the ‘spirit’, which are also called sins of the flesh - for example, jealousy, anger, and pride.^ ‘Flesh’ in the writings of the apostle Paul, for example, refers to humanity in rebellion against the will of God. So this includes what we might calls sins of the body, mind, and spirit.16 Another way of saying this is that ‘flesh’ is the bodily existence in time, our finite and fallen life, while the ‘spiritual’ is our orientation toward God, or the eternal and the redeemed life. In this understanding, ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’ are not parts of our body, but rather two directions of our total existence. There have been a variety of movements, religious and philosophical which seem to place evil on the side of ‘matter’ (our finite possibilities), and good on the side of ‘spirit’ (including the mind). Eliot is using traditional language when he refers to the casting off of the flesh. This does not immediately imply that he is caught in a dualism of negating bodily life. Eliot is also known for pointing out the evil encroached in aspects of (degraded) human society and culture. Perhaps we can say that similar to Augustine, Eliot begins with the traditional dualism of flesh and spirit as found in Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, but goes on to express this in a reforming way, rather than merely in a simple dualism. Then we are dealing with existential understandings of ways of life, and not with separate ‘ontological’ aspects. The difference has also been explained in this way: in the Bible the duality of choices is that between the good ‘heart’ and the bad one. This is a choice of the ‘direction’ of our heart - for or against the will of God. That is the essence of both the Old and the New Testament. Over against the neoplatonic, such as Plotinus’ view of sanctity as escaping from finite, contingent reality (thus leaving behind the material in order to reach the spiritual), the biblical view is that of sanctifying daily, historical contingent reality.17 There is no doubt that this poem expresses the more dualistic view (the material/spiritual dichotomy); but we may rescue Eliot by saying that this is a purposeful exercise in such spirituality, in order (like the continuous turning of the staircase) to move from the relinquishing of worldly things, to spiritual renewal, to a renewed sacral understanding of the world. Like all his poetry, this poem is also rich in metaphors and loaded with references to various sources. He mixes these references in a very loose way and re-creates his own story. In part two the key words point to a mood: bones, desert, dissembled, forgotten, rejected, and so forth. This is spiritual death by cleansing, a following of the way of repentance. On the other hand we also have words or phrases like: cool of the day, blessing, brightness, and so forth. The poet makes some strange combinations: blessing of sand, and bones which shine with brightness and sing with joy. When all is said, the point is that these bones are redeemed by God. The word ‘atone’ also appears in relation to the bones. Even the Juniper tree has its meaning, as the place of ‘5 See, for example, Galatians 5:16ft. 15 For a discussion on such Pauline categories of heart, soul, mind, spirit, body, flesh, see Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerd- mans, 1975), part III, section 19, H4ff. 17 Cf. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2007), 275!!. 71
