M Ismail
T.S. Eliot’s poem Whispers of Immortality, first published in 1918, stands as a complex, layered work that subtly balances modernist skepticism with a fascination for metaphysical inquiry. It consists of two distinct parts—each a meditation on the tension between flesh and spirit, intellect and instinct, mortality and the tantalizing idea of permanence. Through references to Renaissance thinkers and stark modern imagery, Eliot crafts a poem that questions the very nature of immortality in a world dominated by decay and desire.
Structure and Tone
Whispers of Immortality is structured into two parts. The first half pays tribute to two key metaphysical figures: John Webster and John Donne. The second half sharply contrasts this with a portrait of a modern, sensual woman named Grishkin, set against the backdrop of post-World War I disillusionment. Eliot’s tone shifts accordingly—from reverent and cerebral in the first part to ironic and sensual in the second. The juxtaposition creates a kind of dialectic, forcing the reader to confront the fragmentation of spiritual and physical meaning in modern life.
The First Part: Echoes of the Metaphysical
The poem opens with an invocation of John Webster, a 17th-century playwright known for his dark, brooding tragedies. Eliot writes:
“Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin.”
This evocative line encapsulates Eliot’s admiration for Webster’s morbid insight into the human condition. Webster’s preoccupation with mortality, to Eliot, reveals a deeper philosophical awareness that strips away the superficial to expose the inevitable decay that lies beneath the surface of life.
Following Webster, Eliot turns to John Donne, the metaphysical poet known for his complex and paradoxical engagement with both sensual and spiritual themes. Donne, for Eliot, “knew the anguish of the marrow / The ague of the skeleton.” Unlike the sterile intellectualism Eliot criticizes in modern thought, Donne embodies a visceral knowledge of mortality—a knowledge earned through both physical and spiritual intensity.
Eliot’s admiration lies not in their morbidity per se, but in their ability to grapple honestly with the reality of death and spiritual longing. They represent a lost depth, a kind of philosophical and artistic integrity that contrasts sharply with the shallowness Eliot finds in the modern age.
The Second Part: Grishkin and Modern Decay
The poem’s second half introduces Grishkin, a symbol of modern sensuality and superficiality. She is a “Russian” woman, but this detail is likely symbolic rather than literal. Grishkin represents the allure of the flesh, the embodiment of desire untethered from deeper metaphysical meaning. Eliot describes her with ironic sensuality:
This final image captures the futility of modern thought—our attempts at meaning are mere crawling gestures through death’s remnants, devoid of the vitality and intellectual vigor of thinkers like Donne and Webster. Modernity, in Eliot’s eyes, is reduced to a parody of what once was a noble struggle between body and soul.
Themes: Mortality, Sensuality, and the Fragmentation of Meaning
The central theme of Whispers of Immortality is the human response to mortality. Eliot contrasts the rich, embodied spirituality of Donne and Webster with the hollow sensuality and intellectual sterility of modern life. In doing so, he critiques the post-Enlightenment tendency to separate the body from the soul, the sensual from the sacred. For Eliot, true metaphysics must be rooted in a bodily experience of life and death—something the metaphysical poets understood, but modernity has lost.
Another key theme is the disillusionment with modern sensuality. Grishkin is not vilified for her sexuality, but Eliot’s ironic treatment suggests that her allure lacks substance. She is both a product and a symbol of a society obsessed with surfaces, disconnected from the deeper truths of existence.
Modernism and the Loss of Unity
As a modernist poem, Whispers of Immortality exemplifies many of the hallmarks of the movement: fragmentation, irony, historical allusion, and an underlying sense of cultural decay. Eliot, like other modernists, mourns the loss of coherence in contemporary life. Where Donne and Webster could unite intellect, faith, and physicality in their art, the modern world, represented by Grishkin, is fractured and superficial.
This fragmentation is both aesthetic and philosophical. Eliot uses historical allusion not to romanticize the past, but to highlight the loss of a metaphysical worldview in modernity. The poem’s title is deeply ironic: these are not triumphant declarations of eternal life, but faint “whispers” heard against the noise of a disenchanted world.
Conclusion
Whispers of Immortality is a rich, multi-layered poem that captures T.S. Eliot’s ambivalence toward modernity. Through stark contrasts between the metaphysical depth of the past and the sensual shallowness of the present, Eliot questions the viability of immortality—whether spiritual, intellectual, or artistic—in a world dominated by death and desire. Ultimately, the poem stands as a whisper from a lost tradition, a reminder that true engagement with mortality and meaning demands both flesh and spirit
Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.
Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Tightening its lusts and luxuries.
Donne, I suppose, was such another
Who found no substitute for sense,
To seize and clutch and penetrate;
Expert beyond experience,
He knew the anguish of the marrow
The ague of the skeleton;
No contact possible to flesh
Allayed the fever of the bone.
