The Age of Anxiety with Reference to T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden

Abstract

Literature is the nation’s mind in writing. Unlike historical accounts which are factual in nature and are written from a particular point of view, literature is the live blood. As it is live blood, naturally it does not exist in isolation. Labelling anything under an age implies its existence and connection with the past and the future as well. Normatively it demarcates that it does not exists in void. The pre- requisite here stands of the knowledge and developments during the Victorian Age. The Victorian Culture1 shaped with various factors influencing it, is the precursor to the period in which Eliot and Auden are writing. Their reading in the post-pandemic world symbolizes their relevance. If “Lady of Shallot” can be read as post-pandemic recconstruct2 then surely these two literary figures still carry their relevance in the contemporary times. It is strange that anxiety did not enter when the Banner of Britain3 needed protection. The literature in the post war years became absurdist showcasing the blood and nerves of the humans, alongside it came to be dominated with diasporic, feminist and anti-colonial writings. In a post-truth4 era; darkness still persists due to non-focus on rationality and empiricism. This narration of incidents may seem boring because it is largely a male dominated narration. The war period was the time when women gained economic independence and simultaneously the colonies also gained independence. If the Axis powers had not gained power, then the colonizers’ stronghold on the colonies would not have weakened. Without Great Economic Depression, Stalin’s Socialist USSR would not have existed neither we would have Reichsautobahnen5 and Volkswagen along with other automobile’s which today are a status symbol across the globe. The present paper first sets a historical background, defines and then moves towards the less explored trinomial perspective while reading the age of anxiety.