Page 91 - Konferensiya to'plami - 1 (ASR)

Water emerges as a multivalent symbol throughout Eliot's poetry, representing
both life-giving potential and destructive force. In "The Waste Land," the absence of
water symbolizes spiritual drought: "Here is no water but only rock / Rock and no
water and the sandy road" [4]. The Thames River features prominently, serving as
both a symbol of life's continuity and, paradoxically, of pollution and decay. This
duality reflects Eliot's nuanced approach to symbolism, where meanings are rarely
fixed but rather exist in tension with one another.
The Fisher King himself becomes a potent symbol in "The Waste Land,"
representing wounded humanity awaiting healing and redemption. This figure
connects to Eliot's broader concern with spiritual regeneration in a seemingly
godless age. As Qodirov notes in his analysis of modernist poetry, "Eliot transforms
ancient mythological figures into powerful modern symbols that express the spiritual
crisis of twentieth-century humanity" [5]. This technique of mythical parallelism
became highly influential in world literature, including Uzbek modernist poetry of
the late twentieth century.
In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), Eliot employs metaphors and
symbols to explore themes of alienation and paralysis. The famous opening
metaphor comparing the evening sky to "a patient etherized upon a table"
immediately establishes the poem's clinical detachment and sense of paralysis [6].
Prufrock himself becomes a symbol of modern man's inability to act decisively or
connect authentically with others. Throughout the poem, recurring images of fog
and smoke symbolize confusion and obfuscation, reflecting Prufrock's psychological
state. The metaphor of "measuring out life with coffee spoons" powerfully conveys
the triviality and routine that characterizes the protagonist's existence.
Eliot's later masterpiece, "Four Quartets" (1943), represents his most
sophisticated use of symbolism, focusing on the intersections of time, spirituality, and
human experience. The four elements—air, earth, water, and fire—serve as
organizing symbols for each quartet, creating a cosmological framework for Eliot's
meditation on time and eternity. In "Burnt Norton," the rose garden functions as a
complex symbol of temporal transcendence, representing "the moment in and out
of time" where past and future coalesce. This symbol reflects Eliot's growing
preoccupation with Christian mysticism and the possibility of transcending temporal
limitations.
Fire emerges as a dominant symbol in "Four Quartets," representing both
destruction and purification. In "Little Gidding," Eliot writes: "The only hope, or else
despair / Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre— / To be redeemed from fire by fire." This
paradoxical imagery reflects Eliot's Christian understanding of spiritual
transformation, where suffering becomes a means to redemption. As Sultanova
observes in her comparative study of Western and Eastern poetic traditions, "Eliot's
fire imagery incorporates both Western alchemical symbolism and Eastern
purification rituals, creating a transcultural poetic language that bridges diverse
spiritual traditions" [7].
Eliot's use of the journey metaphor appears consistently throughout his poetry,
evolving from the aimless wanderings in "Prufrock" to the purposeful spiritual
pilgrimage in "Four Quartets." This evolution reflects Eliot's own spiritual journey
toward Anglican Christianity in 1927. The staircase in "Ash Wednesday" symbolizes
the difficult ascent toward spiritual understanding, while the "unknown, 89
remembered gate" in "Little Gidding" represents the threshold between temporal

I SHO‘BA:

Tilshunoslikning nazariy va amaliy masalalari

https://www.asr-conference.com/