Although Jungian interpretation of T. S. Eliot has not been very active for the last half century, a number of reasons make C. G. Jung an attractive tool for reading Eliot. First of all, they were contemporaries undergoing the identical moments of history, responding to them in interestingly similar ways. Secondly, they commonly objected to the positivist trend of their times and tried to revive metaphysical and religious visions of the old. Their ultimate concerns lay in transcendental issues, not in the immediate world. Thirdly, they made their main subject matters out of their visions and other non-empirical materials while resorting heavily to mythic and anthropological studies. Resultantly, Eliot’s works are flooded with archetypal figures, especially those of the mother and the anima. Fourthly, they tried to map out the paths to the Ultimate, sharing many parallel motifs in their courses. Eliot’s literary ideas including impersonality, objective correlative, metaphysical conceit, and collage can all be viewed as a means to make possible transcendental experiences. They encourage the enlargement of cognitive power, a pre-condition for contact with the world beyond. In this sense Jung and Eliot were both shamanic figures who strove to offer remedies to the disorders and the maladies they found haunting their times by retrieving the lost connection to the source of human existence. However, despite his rational interest in the ultimate encounter between human and divine, Eliot has his works overflowing with characters, scenes, and motifs suggesting his inclination toward the mother.

1. Jung in Modern American Poetry
 2. Eliot and Jung: Their Common Grounds
 3. Eliot’s Theories and Works: A Jungian Review
 4. The Self, the Logos, and the Mother
 Works Cited
 Abstract

• Byung-Hwa Joh(Koje College)