Dantean Returns in the Works of Thomas Stearns Eliot, Eugenio Montale, and Seamus Heaney ...

321 Pages·2015·1.79 MB·English

Dantean Returns in the Works of Thomas Stearns Eliot,
Eugenio Montale, and Seamus Heaney

Daniela Panzera

Ph.D. Thesis

Mary Immaculate College
University of Limerick

Supervisor: Dr Eugene O’Brien

Submitted to Mary Immaculate College:

______________________

i
Declaration of Originality

Declaration: I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own original research
and does not contain the work of any other individual. All sources that have been
consulted have been identified and acknowledged in the appropriate way.

Signature of Candidate:

___________________________________
Daniela Panzera

Signature of Supervisor:

___________________________________
Dr Eugene O’Brien

Date:

____________________________________

ii
Acknowledgements
My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr Eugene O’Brien, for the passion,
dedication, and openness that he always demonstrated to my ideas and to my work.
His expertise and advice have been invaluable to the success of this study; and his
encouragement and friendship have been fundamental to my own development as a
scholar and as a person. He will never be forgotten.
I also wish to express my thanks to the English Department, whose familial and
inspiring environment provided moral and intellectual support during those years of
study. I owe my gratitude to Mary Immaculate College for the generous financial
support offered through the MIC Studentship Award, which facilitated the
achievement of this project. My indebtedness also goes to the Research and Graduate
School of Mary Immaculate College, for their help and advice throughout the
various steps of my Ph.D.
I would like to thank my friend Brian, who is the most attentive, knowledgeable, and
passionate proof-reader that I could have hoped to meet, as well as being sensitive
and open to my artistic vision. His invaluable advice was fundamental to the
successful outcome of this thesis.
To my dearest friends, Linda, Vivien, Gimena, and Connie I owe special thanks.
They have been with me throughout this process, and have been a constant source of
encouragement and friendship, and love. They have been my second family here in
Ireland, and will always have a special place in my heart.
iii
Thanks to the wonderful children present in my life, the little Alessia, Fionn, Lee and
Luke, who, with their playful and joyous innocence, brighten my days.
I am particularly thankful to my family, my mum Teresa, and my sister and brother,
Fabrizia and Andrea, for their support and encouragement to go forward, even in
difficult times. I am grateful for the love and joy they give me on a daily basis, even
at 3,500 km away. I could not ask for a more supportive and wonderful family.
Finally, a special thought goes to my father, Salvatore (Totò), whose spiritual
presence never abandons me.

iv
Portions of this thesis have been disseminated at the following conferences and in
the following publications:
Conferences
‘Searching for New Modes of Expression – Seamus Heaney’s “Ugolino”: A Tale of
Modern Hatred’, New Voices Multidisciplinary Postgraduate and Early
Career Scholars’ Conference 2013, Diversities in Literary and Cultural
Studies, Nui Maynooth, 13-15 June 2013.
‘Dantean Symbols of Violence in Seamus Heaney’s Poetry’, Graduate Conference
in Italian Studies, University College Cork, 1 March 2014.
‘Butted together, so much wrath o’ercame them’ (Inf. XXXII, l. 32), Limerick
Postgraduate Research Conference, Developing a Culture of Research,
Limerick Institute of Technology, 29 May 2014.
‘Dispossession and Repossession in Seamus Heaney’s Poetry’, The Literature of
Loss, an International Conference focussing on Irish Literature, Mary
Immaculate College, Limerick, 20 May 2015.

Forthcoming Publications
‘Dantean Intertextual Allusions in T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land: The Search for
Poetic Language’, in Semicerchio: Rivista di Poesia Comparata, Florence.

v
Dedication

To the sweet memory of my father, and of my nana,
and to my dears, mum, Fabbri and Andrew.

Alla dolce memoria di mio padre, e di mia nonna,
e ai miei cari, mamma, Fabbri ed Andrew.

vi
Abstract
This project analyzes Dante’s influence on the poetry of Thomas Stearns Eliot,
Eugenio Montale, and Seamus Heaney. A comparative reading of the poetry and
criticism of the four authors will display that Dante’s presence in these three modern
poets’ works is of significant import, as through stylistic and thematic Dantean
references, Eliot, Montale, and Heaney shape the meaning of their texts and evolve a
new poetic craft. Moreover, detecting the numerous references to Dante’s work in
their verses can shed light on the poetic message they want to transmit. An essential
part of this project will be to establish interconnections between the works of the
modern poets as well, as their decision to draw on Dante’s poetry is a major link
between them and creates an affinity in their verses.
This study will be divided into three sections. The first section will explore
Dante’s world: his life and works, and the social, political and intellectual
atmosphere he lived in. The second section deals with the stylistic influence that
Dante had on Eliot, Montale and Heaney; while the third section concerns the
cultural and thematic influence. The medieval master’s experiments with linguistic
techniques mirror the poets’ preoccupation with language, and influence their poetic
style. Eliot drew on the hellish dialectic and imagery found in Dante’s Inferno to
display the lack of hope of modern civilization after the First World War. Montale’s
use of the Dantean allegory, displays his tendency to describe the spiritual through
the physical, and images of aridity and ruins become emblems of the human
condition and of the lack of religious beliefs. Finally, Heaney is attracted to Dante’s
vii
plurilinguistic style, which allows him to transcend a mono-cultural way of making
poetry, and to open to the confrontation with other traditions.
The cultural influence is explored through the device of the journey towards
salvation, which is the means by which artistic, social and religious issues are
addressed. Common cultural experiences and affinities with Dante induce the
modern authors to draw on his works. His Christian and Classical backgrounds are
important features that they share with him. In addition, Dante lived in times of war
and revolutions. His anxiety with the social strife in Medieval Tuscany mirrors
Heaney’s concerns about the Troubles, and Eliot’s and Montale’s preoccupation with
the aftermaths of World War I. However, through Dante they are able to transcend
their cultural givens, as in him, they find a universal mode of making poetry that is
in tune with the world they seek to attain in their lyrics. By using Dantean
intertextual allusions, the poets obtain a different perspective on their own societies,
and, their works, like Dante’s work, assume historical significance because they
portray human life across all boundaries of time and place.

viii
List of Abbreviations

Conf.: Confessions, St. Augustine
Conv.: Convivio, Dante
DM: De Monarchia, Dante
DVE: De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante
HF: “Hercules Furens”, Seneca
Inf.: Inferno, Dante
Met.: Metamorphoses, Ovid
NE: Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle
Par.: Paradiso, Dante
Purg.: Purgatorio, Dante
ST: Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas
VN: Vita Nuova, Dante

ix
Table of Contents

Dantean Returns in the Works of Thomas Stearns Eliot, Eugenio Montale, and
Seamus Heaney...................................................................................................................... i
Declaration of Originality ..................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. iii
Dedication ........................................................................................................................... vi
Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vii
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... ix
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. x
Epigraph ............................................................................................................................. xii
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
SECTION ONE: DANTE’S WORLD ................................................................................. 20
Chapter 1: Dante’s Life and Works .................................................................................... 21
Life of Dante ................................................................................................................................22
The Thirteenth Century and the Political Struggle .........................................................................23
Dante’s Involvement in Politics ....................................................................................................25
Earlier Vision of Love and Poetry: From the Troubadours to the Dolce Stil Novo .........................28
The Vita Nuova ............................................................................................................................29
The Convivio ................................................................................................................................30
De Vulgari Eloquentia ..................................................................................................................32
De Monarchia ..............................................................................................................................34
Epistle XIII (to Cangrande della Scala) .........................................................................................35
The Divine Comedy ......................................................................................................................37
SECTION TWO: STYLISTIC INFLUENCES.................................................................... 54
Chapter 2: The Search for Poetic Language ........................................................................ 55
Crossing the ‘City of Grief’ ..........................................................................................................63
‘I Should Have Been a Pair of Ragged Claws’ ..............................................................................74
The Impossibility to Say ...............................................................................................................84
Overcoming Inexpressibility.........................................................................................................93
Chapter 3: Montale’s Allegorical Language ......................................................................103
x