THE OBJECTIVE CORRELATIVE

A new famous term used by T.S. Eliot in an essay on Hamlet (1919).The relevant passage is "the only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an objective correlative; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion; such that when the external facts, which must terminate in sensory experience, are given the emotion is immediately evoked".

Eliot goes on to suggest in Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking speech and in the speech that Macbeth makes when he hears of his wife's death, the words are completely adequate to the state of mind; whereas in Hamlet the prince is "dominated by a state of mind which is inexpressible, because it is in excess of the facts as they appear".

These observations have provoked a good deal of debates. In other terms a successful artistic creations requires an exquisite balance between, a coalescence of, form and matter; if the matter (thought, feeling, action) is "too much" ("in excess of") the form (words) we have a discrepancy and strain, the experience is overwhelmed by the words, colloquially we say "I was speechless", "it was indescribable".

In other words we have not found the formula.

In reverse, lacking the formula again we over describe, say too much.

Eliot shared with Joyce the view that the poet should be detached. (distanza emotiva che gli permette di vedere le cose in modo oggettivo).

Research for impersonality.

Poesia: non deve essere uno sfogo di emozioni (excess) ma una fuga dalle emozioni, deve avere valore per tutti (universale)