Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»

In Vita Nova, 6, 4, Dante espouses a realistic notion of language, stating that names originate from the things they stand for (nomina sunt consequentia rerum), thus possessing an intrinsic truth that precedes enunciation; a few chapters before (Vita Nova, 1, 2) the Poet had also claimed that it is...

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Main Author: Beatrice Di Pietrantonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2025-08-01
Series:Griseldaonline
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Online Access:https://griseldaonline.unibo.it/article/view/21669
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author Beatrice Di Pietrantonio
author_facet Beatrice Di Pietrantonio
author_sort Beatrice Di Pietrantonio
collection DOAJ
description In Vita Nova, 6, 4, Dante espouses a realistic notion of language, stating that names originate from the things they stand for (nomina sunt consequentia rerum), thus possessing an intrinsic truth that precedes enunciation; a few chapters before (Vita Nova, 1, 2) the Poet had also claimed that it is possible to guess a name based on the effects of the signified thing: all of this amounts to a circular conception of signification, that needs the endorsement of one’s peers and an existing tradition to be validated. This approach is similar to that of his estimator and critic T.S. Eliot, who, albeit participant in the typically Modernist poetic of fragmentation and ambiguity, often displays a rather ‘Dantean’, ‘medieval’ concept of tradition and linguistic background. This essay aims to analyse the relation between Eliot and Dante’s precedent, both in Eliot’s critical works and The Waste Land; it will also try to link, based on said relation, a passage of Eliot’s poem to Dante’s Purgatorio XIII, for the sake of a more rounded interpretation of the text.
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spelling doaj-art-eb30d4c3b94c491da3fbed2e9c22240a2025-08-20T04:03:22ZengUniversity of BolognaGriseldaonline1721-47772025-08-012418910110.6092/issn.1721-4777/2166920047Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»Beatrice Di Pietrantonio0Sapienza Università di RomaIn Vita Nova, 6, 4, Dante espouses a realistic notion of language, stating that names originate from the things they stand for (nomina sunt consequentia rerum), thus possessing an intrinsic truth that precedes enunciation; a few chapters before (Vita Nova, 1, 2) the Poet had also claimed that it is possible to guess a name based on the effects of the signified thing: all of this amounts to a circular conception of signification, that needs the endorsement of one’s peers and an existing tradition to be validated. This approach is similar to that of his estimator and critic T.S. Eliot, who, albeit participant in the typically Modernist poetic of fragmentation and ambiguity, often displays a rather ‘Dantean’, ‘medieval’ concept of tradition and linguistic background. This essay aims to analyse the relation between Eliot and Dante’s precedent, both in Eliot’s critical works and The Waste Land; it will also try to link, based on said relation, a passage of Eliot’s poem to Dante’s Purgatorio XIII, for the sake of a more rounded interpretation of the text.https://griseldaonline.unibo.it/article/view/21669dante«purgatorio»«the waste land»thomas stearns eliot
spellingShingle Beatrice Di Pietrantonio
Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
Griseldaonline
dante
«purgatorio»
«the waste land»
thomas stearns eliot
title Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
title_full Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
title_fullStr Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
title_full_unstemmed Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
title_short Le immagini infrante. T.S. Eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra Dante e «The Waste Land»
title_sort le immagini infrante t s eliot e i processi di significazione poetica tra dante e the waste land
topic dante
«purgatorio»
«the waste land»
thomas stearns eliot
url https://griseldaonline.unibo.it/article/view/21669
work_keys_str_mv AT beatricedipietrantonio leimmaginiinfrantetselioteiprocessidisignificazionepoeticatradanteethewasteland