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Work #1168 · Mid

Ash-Wednesday

Thomas Stearns Eliot
1927-1930 · English
Long lyric poem in six parts · Anglo-American modernism / Anglo-Catholic religious poetry

Eliot's 1930 long poem — first major work after his 1927 conversion to Anglo-Catholicism

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Ash-Wednesday (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Passive
Observer · Number Singular
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Revelation
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Ash-Wednesday

The 1927-30 post-conversion period of Eliot's religious-poetic transition.

Space

Ash-Wednesday

The Anglican-Catholic liturgical space; the British setting of Eliot's adopted home.

Matter

Ash-Wednesday

The embodied penitent-self at the heart of the poem.

Observer

Ash-Wednesday

Eliot as religious-poetic penitent.

Energy

Ash-Wednesday

The religious-penitential energies the poem articulates.

Information

Ash-Wednesday

The six-part poetic-religious content of Ash-Wednesday.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Ash-Wednesday

Ash-Wednesday has been variously assessed — defenders see major transitional Eliot work, critics (secular-modernist) see retreat from the high-modernist achievement of The Waste Land.