Intersections of Forgiveness and ‘Queer Use’ In T.S. Eliot’s ‘Marina’

Abstract

Recent literary and theological accounts of forgiveness have appealed to the poetic as offering an ‘ambiguous’ space appropriate to the complex process of forgiving. In this article I will texture these accounts with a close reading of T.S. Eliot’s ‘Marina’, which is well-placed as an example of this style of poetics. Beyond ambiguity, however, ‘Marina’ communicates an account of forgiveness that can be read generatively alongside Sara Ahmed’s category of ‘queer use’. The poetics of ‘Marina’ will thereby provide a conceptual pattern for a movement towards healing, beyond painful histories, without erasing the past. This, in turn, will highlight the importance of Ahmed’s ‘queer use’ for contemporary theological accounts of forgiveness.