Trauma, Transcendence, and Trust: Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Eliot Thinking Loss

In the wake of psychoanalysis and the birth of therapy, trauma is a powerful concept in twenty-first century culture.  Thomas J. Brennan, S.J. finds roots of the "sensibility of trauma" by returning to the work of Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Eliot.  By reading these poets of mourning through the framework of trauma, Brennan reflects on our traumatized moment and weighs two potential responses—the fantasy of transcendence and the ethic of trust.