of poems and proposals

The first half of this thesis articulates Eliot's debt to early twentieth century philosophy of language, and describes his urgent search for an "ideal form" of language during his years at Harvard. Alongside his studies of languages and logic, Eliot developed an epistemology of meaning in his early work -- a conception of the relationship between language, thought, and the world of experience. The second half of this dissertation unearths connections between Eliot's philosophical themes and his critical and poetic approaches.