Poem Interpretation of Animula by T S Eliot

An Analysis of the Classical Allusions to the Stifled Soul

Feb 21, 2009

The T S Eliot poem, "Animula" contains several classical allusions which provide a key to the poem interpretation. Eliot shows the withering of the fearful, stifled soul.

The T S Eliot poem “animula” presents the progression of the ‘average’ soul from the period of childhood innocence and delight through the discovery of restraint and fear and finally the state of imprisonment of the soul so that the person dies without having grown spiritually or having lived a full life.

The Meaning of the Title “Animula”

The title suggests a classical poem attributed to the emperor Hadrian, a great and daring Roman, who addressed his soul on his deathbed, saying, in effect, “we’ve had a good time, my companion, but where are you headed now?”

The reader should address the poem with that insight. Eliot perhaps offers Hadrian, for all his faults and mistakes, as someone who at least tried to live a full life. Hadrian’s life is in strong contrast to the description Eliot gives of the soul of ‘Everyman”.

The Reference in the First Line of “Animula”

It should be noted that Eliot puts the very first line of his poem in inverted commas, indicating that he is borrowing from someone else. This should be a clue to the reader that this line, like the title, must be significant to the theme of the poem. Why else would a poet start with someone else’s words?

Eliot’s key reference is to a line from Dante’s Purgatorio where one of the souls in purgatory explains the way a soul develops on earth and can go astray. Marco’s emphasis is on free will.

The New Soul

Eliot’s first section, using Dante’s line ‘Issues from the hand of God, the simple soul’ as a starting point, details the soul of a child experiencing the fresh new world with simple joy and enthusiasm. It is a delightful child’s eye view of the world “moving between the legs of tables and chairs”, taking delight in the wind, sunlight and even “the sunlit pattern on the floor.”

The Soul Learns to Fear

There is a sudden change from this exploration of the world when Eliot moves on to: “The heavy burden of the growing soul

The soul is trammelled by restraints and grows timid. Eliot refers to the “pain of living and the drug of dreams.” In a clever layered image, Eliot depicts a small child curled up in a window seat, reading.

In context, the image is not a comforting one, as the soul is ‘curled up’ like a dried leaf by the pain of living. The irony is that the window seat looks out on the real world and the soul is experiencing the wonders of the world through the pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The Soul Withdraws from the World

Something has gone wrong. If it was the joyful Maker’s intention that the soul should enjoy the world (as the quote from Dante suggests), this soul is not fulfilling its destiny. It is “fearing the warm reality”, it is immobile, turned in on itself, afraid to take chances and live life to the full.

The Soul Withers

Eliot’s conclusion hints of death: the soul’s temporary home is gone, “leaving disordered papers in a dusty room.” He suggests that the only living this soul did (perhaps in a desperate realisation of the futility of a wasted life) is in the brief period between when the priest administers a final communion and that person’s death.

Now is the time for prayer and the prayers are unusual: the petitions are for Guiterriez, Boudin and Floret, who seem to be fictional characters. What they seem to represent is a love of action and violent death. It seems to hark back to the title and Hadrian’s exploits, perhaps suggesting that it is better to strive, perhaps risk violent death, than to live a stultifying existence where the soul does not expand.

Eliot's Conclusion

This familiar Catholic prayer addressing Mary, Mother of God, no longer seeks intercession at death, but at the outset of life when the slow death of the soul can commence.

T S Eliot reminds the reader that the person who refuses to live or is too afraid to take chances is denying his or her purpose.

The copyright of the article Poem Interpretation of Animula by T S Eliot in British Poetry is owned by James Parsons. Permission to republish Poem Interpretation of Animula by T S Eliot in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.