Cousin Nancy
Cousin Nancy - context Summary
Eliot's Early American Critique
Written during Eliot's early career and published in Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), "Cousin Nancy" situates a modern, restless figure against the conservative New England past. The poem contrasts Miss Nancy's fashionable, disruptive behavior with the watchful presence of canonical New England figures and inherited moral codes. It reflects Eliot's critical engagement with American intellectual traditions and the cultural shift he observed in his American background.
Read Complete AnalysesMiss Nancy Ellicott Strode across the hills and broke them, Rode across the hills and broke them— The barren New England hills— Riding to hounds Over the cow-pasture. Miss Nancy Ellicott smoked And danced all the modern dances; And her aunts were not quite sure how they felt about it, But they knew that it was modern. Upon the glazen shelves kept watch Matthew and Waldo, guardians of the faith, The army of unalterable law.
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