Dissociation of sensibility is a term used in literature that was introduced by T. S. Eliot in his essay "The Metaphysical Poets." It describes a change Eliot believed happened in poetry during the 1600s, when intellectual ideas became separated from emotional experiences.

Origin of terminology

Eliot used the term "dissociation of sensibility" to explain how English poetry changed between the time of Donne or Lord Herbert of Cherbury and the time of Tennyson and Browning. In "The Metaphysical Poets," Eliot tried to describe what makes a metaphysical poet and to identify the time period and clear characteristics of such poets.

We can explain this difference with this idea: Poets from the seventeenth century, who followed the dramatists of the sixteenth century, had a way of feeling and thinking that allowed them to handle different types of experiences. These poets were as simple, artificial, difficult, or imaginative as their predecessors, such as Dante, Guido Cavalcanti, Guinicelli, or Cino. However, in the seventeenth century, a dissociation of sensibility began, and we have never fully recovered from it. This separation was made worse by the influence of the two most influential poets of the century, Milton and Dryden.

Theory of dissociation of sensibility

Eliot's theory of the separation between thinking and feeling is based on his description of the difference in style between metaphysical poets from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and poets from the late seventeenth century onward. In "The Metaphysical Poets," Eliot explains that earlier poets combined different experiences and expressed their thoughts through feelings. Later poets, however, separated their thoughts from their feelings. He calls this separation the reason for the difference between intellectual and reflective poets. Eliot writes that the earlier intellectual poet had the ability to experience and understand all kinds of feelings. When the separation occurred, poets began to think and feel in an unbalanced way, often in fits and starts, and focused more on reflection. This change in poetic style and method, which Eliot calls the separation between thinking and feeling, is marked by the loss of a unified connection between thought and sensation.

Eliot uses the poetry of John Donne as the best example of a unified connection between thought and feeling. He writes that for Donne, a thought was an experience that changed his feelings. Eliot's admiration for Donne's ability to combine intellectual thought with emotional experience shows that he believes the separation between thinking and feeling slowed the development of poetry. Eliot argues that even though language became more refined over time, the separation between thought and emotion led to the end of a more mature era of poetry that would have lasted longer than the poetry that followed.

Later in his career, Eliot was asked if the separation in literature was caused by the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century. He did not confirm or deny this idea, but he said cryptically that he thought the same factors that caused the Civil War might also have caused the separation in literature.

Alternative literary interpretations

In his article "T. S. Eliot's Theory of Dissociation," Allen Austin explains that dissociation of sensibility refers to a way of thinking and feeling that combines intellectual ideas with strong emotions. He says Eliot introduced this term to explain how cleverness (wit) and deep feelings (emotion) can work together. Austin notes that Eliot believed this concept describes not only the separation of thinking and feeling but also the separation of ideas from the images used to express them. Austin also explains that Eliot used the term to describe how language became more complex while emotions became more basic. He supports this by quoting Eliot's statement that "while the language became more refined, the feeling became more crude." Austin adds that Eliot's discussion of dissociation of sensibility appears in his essay "The Metaphysical Poets," where he praises the style of poets who mix clever ideas with strong emotions. This, Austin says, helps Eliot defend his own writing, which follows the same style.

In his essay "Writing 'Race' and the Difference It Makes," Henry Louis Gates Jr. uses Eliot's concept of dissociation of sensibility to talk about how race is treated in literature. Gates argues that modern critics often ignore the role of race in literature, seeing it only as a background detail. He writes: "For millions who originated outside Europe, however, this dissociation of sensibility has its origins in colonialism and human slavery." Gates explains that in this context, dissociation of sensibility shows how literature, like thinking, becomes disconnected from race and otherness. This idea connects to Eliot's belief that feeling (or sensibility) is separated from intellectual ideas.