Eliot의 시에 나타난 '정점'(Still Point)의 개념과 그 구현 = The Concept of 'Still Point' and The Embodiment Of it in Four Quartets of T.S. Eliot

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

T. S. Eliot's poetry is, in appearance, difficult to understand because of the diversity and comprehensiveness in form and matter. But if we appreciate it carefully, we can find that the whole of his works is one poem and it has a consistent developing theme. The theme is no other than a union with an Absolute, that is, a pursuit of salvation. Eliot finds aesthetic means in order that he can express the moment of the union with God; the means is 'objective correlative'. One of the 'objective correlatives' is 'still point', which is the most important and significant of all the imagery for the moment of salvation, and for the union with an Absolute.
The purpose of this thesis is to study the meaning of the 'still point', its character and the process of reaching it, and to clarify the relation with the concept of criticism and philosophy which T. S. Eliot had studied. We can find the concept of 'still point' in logos which Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, thought of and in Sunyata of Madhyamika which Nagarjuna, Indic Buddhist priest made. Logos represents the character of central-point and Sunyata represents the unification and removal of boundary for two different concepts.
The concept of logos is similar to that of 'still point' in that logos is energizing and controlling point over the flow of fire, air, water, and earth and 'still point' is the symbol of wholeness and the settlement of different elements. Sunyata has the idea that there is no boundary between subject and object, one and many, and etc. The concept of settlement for confrontation in 'still point' is like that.
In the next, the way in which 'still point' is extracted can be discovered in Eliot's criticism and philosophy. 'Immediate experience' which is the essential concept of T. S. Eliot's philosophy and 'objective correlative' are very similar to the 'still point' in that they are the harmony, balance and unification of two opposites. 'Tradition' which he makes much of in his criticism is related to the 'still point' is also related to 'objective correlative', for 'objective correlative' is the product of the unification and reconciliation of two aspects.
The significant symbols for 'still point' are 'Mandala' and 'wheel'. The circle in the middle of it and a square outside it signify the power of God which controls conflicts and conflicting elements which happen in human beings respectively. The wheel schematizes the tension and unification of spirit similar to 10 stairs of contemplation of St. John of the Cross.
We can discover many other models of unification of 'still point' through the union of love and fire, word and Word, beginning and ending, exploration and revelation, and etc. They are the examples of showing similarity that things of different nature can be unified.
The form of four Quartets is no other than the incarnation of form and pattern which is the attribute of the 'still point'. The poem of four Quartets is no less the incarnation of word than Christ is that of flesh. The 'still point' is achieved by intellectual perception of the 'Incarnated Word' in "Burnt Norton", by passional participation in 'Atonement' in "East Coker", by volitional response to the 'Annunciation' in the "Dry salvages", and by 'pentecostal purifying' in "Little Gidding".

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서론
• Ⅱ. Still Point의 개념
• 1. Heraclitus의 '로고스'(Logos)
• 2. '중관 사상'(Madhyamika/Middle Way)의 '공'(空/Sunyata)
• Ⅲ. 'Still point'의 개념의 형성 원리
• 1. '직접 경험'(Immediate Experience)과 '유한 중심'(A Finite Centre)
• 2. '전통, '객관적 상관물, 그리고 '느낌'
• Ⅳ. 'Still point'의 모형들
• 1. '중심점적 개념'의 모형들: '만달라(Mandala)와 '바퀴'(Wheel)
• 2. 'Still point'의 '통합성적 개념'의 모형들
• Ⅴ. 결론
• Works Cited
• Abstract