font-weight: 400;">This quote describes the division within poets’ minds. It means poets could no longer mix thought and emotion in poetry. Their minds started to work differently. Poetry lost its special mixture of both.

Before the Dissociation: Eliot believes old poets had a unified sensibility. Thought and feeling worked together as one unit. Poets like Donne wrote with a joined thinking and feeling. Eliot gives proof of this unity. He says,

“The poets of the seventeenth century… possessed a mechanism of sensibility which could devour any kind of experience.”

This quote explains their strength. Every life event changed both their feelings and their thoughts. This made their poetry strong and natural. Their lines were full of life and heart. Poetry felt close to the real world.

After the Dissociation: Eliot says that after the seventeenth century, poetry changed. Poets like Tennyson and Browning started to think and feel separately. The unity of thought and emotion was lost. Eliot shows this problem in later poets. He writes,

“They think; but they do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose.”

This quote explains what was lost. Poets now only reflected and thought. They did not strongly feel their ideas. The poetry had more mind and less emotion. Lines became colder, without feeling. The change made poetry less rich and less alive.

Effects on Metaphysical and Modern Poets: Eliot says that only a few old poets avoided this separation. Metaphysical poets like Donne kept thought and emotion together. They had both unity and power. Later poets became only thinkers, not true feelers. Their poetry could not mix many emotions and ideas anymore. Eliot states,

“When a poet’s mind is perfectly equipped for its work, it is constantly amalgamating disparate experience.”

This quote shows what good poetry can do. Good poets could join many experiences. After the split, this skill was rare. Most poets wrote with their thoughts, not their emotions.

Dissociation’s Impact on Later Poetry: Eliot believes this detachment hurt English poetry for years. Most poets became only reflective. They stopped writing with joined senses. They could no longer balance their thoughts and feelings. Poetry became less close to life. Eliot wants readers to remember the loss. ‘Dissociation of sensibility’ is the name for this problem. He thinks poetry never recovered fully from this change.

In conclusion, Eliot’s idea of the dissociation of sensibility reveals a significant decline in poetry. Earlier poets joined thought and feeling well. Later poets lost this power. Eliot’s quotes clearly explain the difference. His essay helps us see why unity is needed. This lesson is important for students today.