Dissociation of Sensibility: a critical concept

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Dissociation of sensibility is a literary concept that was introduced by T. S. Eliot in the early twentieth century. He used this term to describe a fundamental change that occurred in English poetry after the seventeenth century. He argued that poets in the seventeenth century had the ability to combine thought and feeling in a unified manner. He believed that later poets lost this ability and created poetry that separated intellect from emotion.

T. S. Eliot developed this idea in his essay on John Donne and the metaphysical poets. He believed that poets like John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell possessed an extraordinary ability to integrate intellectual depth with emotional intensity. He suggested that their poetry demonstrated a seamless fusion of reason and passion. He argued that this quality disappeared in the poetry of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He believed that poets after this period wrote poetry that either emphasized thought without emotion or expressed feeling without intellectual complexity.

T. S. Eliot suggested that John Milton and the poets of the eighteenth century contributed to this dissociation. He argued that their poetry became more refined and structured but lacked the intense unity of thought and feeling found in earlier poets. He believed that the Romantic poets tried to restore this unity but were unable to achieve the same level of integration as the metaphysical poets. He claimed that poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats emphasized emotion in their poetry but did not blend it with intellectual rigor in the same way as the seventeenth-century poets.

The concept of dissociation of sensibility has been widely debated by literary critics. Some scholars agree with T. S. Eliot and argue that the loss of this unity led to a decline in poetic expression. Others believe that poetry naturally evolves and that different periods produce different styles of expression. Some critics argue that later poets developed new ways of integrating thought and feeling that were different from those of the metaphysical poets but equally valuable.

Dissociation of sensibility remains an important idea in literary criticism. It has influenced discussions about the nature of poetry and the relationship between intellect and emotion in literary works. Many scholars continue to explore how poets across different periods attempt to balance thought and feeling in their writing. The debate surrounding this concept has led to a deeper understanding of the evolution of English poetry and the changing artistic approaches of poets over time.

The idea of dissociation of sensibility highlights an important shift in the history of English poetry. It emphasizes the role of intellectual and emotional unity in poetic expression. It encourages readers and critics to examine how different poets approach the relationship between reason and passion. It remains a valuable concept for analyzing the development of poetry and its transformation across different literary periods.


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