The Concept of Symbol/Sign in the Works of S. T. Coleridge and T. S. Eliot

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of the concept of symbol/sign in the works of S. T. Coleridge and T. S. Eliot. Coleridge’s romantic concept of symbol was based on his theory of “organic unity”, the principle desynonimization of such categories as allegory and symbol, fancy and imagination, understanding and reason. T. S. Eliot’s symbol/sign has double or multiple meanings and is connected with his theory of the “objective correlative”. As the poet of modernism, T. S. Eliot was influenced by S. T. Coleridge’s works in a contradictory manner: his system of symbols/signs reflects the refusal from the romantic principle of lyrical passion and egotism and approves the idea of impersonalism and associative imagery, proposed by J. Keats. Key words: S. T. Coleridge; T. S. Eliot; Romanticism; Modernism; symbol; sign; allegory; fancy; imagination; “organic unity”, “objective correlative”.