Abstract

As the departure from Victorian age and an abrupt break with all tradition, modernism rose since the end of the 19th century, which raised a new literary high tide in Europe during that period. As one of the most influential English modernist poet in the 20th century, T. S. Eliot leaves the readers so many masterpieces and received high reputation. It is known that he is good at using irony in his poems. Some of his poems became outstanding with the help of irony, which deeply showed the alienation and loneliness of the society during that period. This essay will make a study on the use of irony in Eliot’s poems by the way of close reading. Firstly, a brief introduction to Eliot and modernism will be given. The third part of the essay analyzes the usage and effects of irony in his poems in details, which includes three aspects: irony in the title, irony in the epigrams and irony in the texts. Through the analysis, a conclusion can be drawn as that: it is irony that makes the poems reach a previously unimagined effect, which well presents the theme and touches the reader’s heart deeply.

Key Words:  modernism  irony  Eliot  poems

摘  要

   现代主义兴起于19世纪末期，在欧洲掀起了一股文学新风潮，被视为是与维多利亚时期及一切传统文学相背离的新起点。作为20世界影响力最大的现代主义文学家之一，艾略特留给读者许多不朽之作并赢得了很大的荣誉。众所周知，艾略特善于运用反讽。他的一些诗篇正因为反讽而成为杰出之作。它们强有力地表现出了当时社会的异化现象和人们所感受到的孤独。因此，该文章将使用细读法来研究艾略特诗中的反讽。首先将对艾略特和现代主义文学做一个简短的介绍。本文的第三部分会对反讽在艾略特诗中运用及其所产生的作用做具体分析，包括三个部分：标题中的反讽，引言中的反讽和正文中的反讽。通过分析，可以得出这样的结论，是反讽使得诗句达到意想不到的效果，使得其很好的表达了诗人想要传达的主题思想并且深深地触动了读者的心。       

关键词： 现代主义  反讽  艾略特  诗歌

1 Introduction
T. S. Eliot is one of the most influential English poets in the 20th century. He is a major innovator in English poetry and leader of modernist movement.
It is certain that making studies on Eliot’s work is full of significance. For his whole life, he has left so many masterpieces to the readers, which vary from poem to drama. He is good at using many kinds of skills which is worthy to study. The most important is that his works profoundly present the condition of European society and people’s thought of that period. In 1948, Eliot won The Nobel Price in Literature for his outstanding, pioneering contribution to present-day poetry.