Advice on an English Literature essay on [The Depictions of h**l] using Homer, Dante and T.S.Eliot

Question

I'm writing a 4000-word essay on the portrayal of the underworld in various texts, including:

Homer's Odyssey

Dante's Inferno

A collection of T.S.Eliot poems (The Waste Land, Ash Wednesday, The Hollow Men, Gerontion Rhapsody on a Windy Night, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)

The aim of the essay is to establish the differences between the different texts' depiction. There was a point in choosing these texts, that being the fact that Homer, Dante and Eliot were all concerned with each other in terms of their poetic style, their influence and their subject matter. It is also interesting that their works were published in the 9th, 14th and 19th century, respectively, with half a millennium between one and the next.

It's clear that Dante's Inferno is punitive while Homer's Underworld is dispirited and sombre. Both of these texts create vivid imagery, not only using physical descriptions, but also incorporating the emotional struggle of the lost souls.

Eliot's poems on the other hand, were not written to describe a hero's encounter with the underworld, but to illustrate a 19th century living h**l in a time of great desolation. The poems are also in keeping with the combination of physical and emotional representation.

I am struggling to put my finger on how to find distinctive connections between the writers and how to structure this entire essay in general. I am also trying hard to be selective with Dante's Inferno and resourceful with Homer's Odyssey. Eliot's poetry is also more abstract than the other two.

Literary scholars... I call upon you for aid.

P.S. I am in my sixth year of high school studying the IB Diploma Programme and I decided to do my Extended Essay in English. The subject interests me (usually) and I obsessively value the classics. ;)

Answer 1

It is an interesting, but wide subject. I would suggest you do a little more research on the context of these works, especially on the notion of "h**l" as it was considered in the different time periods of the works you are studying. Obviously, Homer's and Dante's h***s are different, and even if T. S. Eliot was a Christian, his religion was not the same as Dante. By the way, Eliot was born at the end of the 19th century but his works were published in the 20th. I think that the influence of the historical circumstances of these works could be interesting to study (beginning of the 20th century: WW1? other events? I haven't got in mind the exact dates of publication, but you have to check).

Maybe find a book in your library that could be a basis on the notion of h**l, in different religions.

EDIT: and I think you should also check (not study, but just get some information on) Milton's and Blake's visions of h**l. It would help you connect Dante and Eliot.