This paper examined how the English Renaissance drama influenced Eliot's early poelry. Many critics like Hugh Kenner and Grover Smith insisted the relalionship between Eliot' s poetη and the English Renaissance drama, but they didn’t tell concretely how Eliot’s poetry was affected by the English Renaissance drama. First, I Iried to examine how the English Renaissance drama affected Eliol's poetry in terms of the form. As some critics indicaled Eliot was a poet who tended to improve the traditional English verse forms and use them. So he learned the blank verse form in lhe English Renaissance drama, improved and used il in his poems especially “Gerontion.'‘ And he used some lechniques like repetition he showed in Ihis poem in his several poems such as “The Love Song of J A lfred PrufTock," and “La Figlia Che Piange." Besides, Eliot used tbe English Renaissance drama as lhe significant source of allusions in his poems. For example, lines 5 and 6 of “Whispers of Immortality" can be associ ated witb Flamineo’s speech of John Webster’s The While Devi/ V. iv. Thus, Eliot Iried to put the concept of tbe deatb in life tbis speech implied in his poem. And he tried to show the speakers' self-dramatization in his early poems Ihat appeared in main characters’ speech in the English Renaissance drama by using these allusions. Thus, he attempted to sho\V the speakers' narcissistic mind that he thought tbe modem men had.

• 배순정(연세대학교) | Soon-Jung Bae