Preface

TL;DRAbstract

In my own mind the title of this book is Tracing T. S. Eliot's Peregrinations. I have heeded the advice of those who should know that to have the polysyllabic peregrinations in the title would do the book no good. Still its unique complex of meanings makes it an indispensable word in connection with Eliot; and one which, just because it is not in common use, is all the more apt for Eliot's uncommon life in thought and poetry. So long as his work is current we will need to keep the word current. The meanings of peregrination start from the ordinary ‘transplanting into another country’, as Eliot transplanted himself from his native America to England; but when we come to ‘travelling into foreign lands’ the sense becomes metaphysical, Eliot's travels having been mainly into foreign regions of the mind and spirit; that connects with the further sense of ‘travelling as a religious pilgrim’ in quest of places especially devoted to the life of the spirit; and finally we are brought to the gen

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