Background of the Poem
Historical Background
After the First World War, the people of Europe were left disturbed and disillusioned. The beliefs and values around which their societies were based lost their authenticity. The people of Europe questioned them and considered them to be the cause of the horrific war they had faced. They tried to leave behind their past and move on. They were on a quest to build a new world. In this way, their connection with their history was utterly lost. They rejected all their beliefs, which they had held in the past.
T.S. Eliot—the writer of this poem—had an immediate experience of these anarchic times. He saw the European societies crumble down in a matter of a few years. He knew that these changes would bring a huge effect on the continent.
In the poem The Waste Land, the poet has given an outlet to his own mental condition and the condition of society. The physical deterioration of the society is depicted in this poem through the images of infertility and dryness. The disjointed social set-up of that time is depicted through the images of broken things in the poem. The poem describes the infertility of modern man and speaks of the benumbed condition of humanity.
Literary Background
The Waste Land is perhaps the most important highlight of Eliot’s poetic career. It was written in the year 1922. It was the time of Modernism. Modernism was a movement in which artists and writers tried to find novel methods of observation, new methods of getting knowledge, and leaving behind every established rule. In literature, it was characterized by fragmentation in narration and abandonment of an objective viewpoint. The literary works also concerned existential themes like the purposelessness of life and the quest for the meaning of life by individuals.
This poem is written in the full spirit of Modernism. The ideas of the poem are scattered around in the poem, and there is no coherence in the thought. There are a lot of allusions to other works of art. At the same time, the speaker of the poem does not remain the same throughout the poem. There are several speakers in almost every section of the poem.
Moreover, there are a lot of instances of existentialism in the poem. Many speakers of the poem are trapped in the anxiety and dread of being. They all try to give meaning to their lives in one way or the other.
The Waste Land Summary
A mythical character Sibyl of Cumae, appears in the epigraph of the poem. The speaker says that when a group of young boys visited the Sibyl and asked her what she wanted, she replied that she wanted death.
The rest of the poem is divided into five different sections which are as under:
The Burial of the Dead
At the start of this part, the speaker—an aristocratic lady—speaks of her happy past days. She recollects the memory of the beautiful days passed in Germany. She talks of her visit to her cousin and the fun activities they had. Intermingled with these pleasant recollections, there is a shadow of the infertility of modern times.
After this happy episode, a new speaker tells an unknown listener about showing him/her a novel thing. Then he starts talking about the inevitable death and the desiccation of humanity in modern times. He gives the image of love in modern times, which is fixed upon lust and physical needs only. It has no spirituality left in it.
The next shift in the scenes brings a card reader. She is named Madame Sosostris. She foreshadows that water will bring death and that the men should fear it. She also talks about how she is forced to carry out her business in secret.
The scene changes again, and the speaker describes the condition of ordinary men in modern times. He says that a lot of people are walking in the streets of London, but they have lost their vitality. They seem alive but are dead from the inside. The speaker, then, recollects a meeting with a soldier during a war. One soldier asks the other whether the corpse he buried in his garden has sprouted or not. Suddenly, the speaker turns his attention towards the readers and accuses them that they are not innocents. They have an equal share in the wrongs described in the poem.
A Game of Chess
This section opens with the description of a well-to-do lady and the room she is sitting in. The room is laden with a lot of beauty products and perfumes. She is sitting on a burnished chair waiting for someone. Scattered among the artificial objects of ornamentation, there are a few glimpses of the past time.
When the person whom she is waiting for arrives, they indulge in a meaningless dialogue. The person tells her that they are in “rats’ alley” and cannot do anything. They talk about how they are going to pass their time and wait for the knock on the door.
The next part of this section discusses a meeting of two underprivileged ladies sitting in a bar. They are talking about a woman named Lil. They say that her husband is returning after a long time serving in the army. They show their concerns about the appearance of Lil as she has not treated her teeth and has lost her charm. Therefore, they think that her husband will try to find recompense in other women. One of the two ladies says that Lil blames the abortion pills she has used for her bad teeth. While these two women are talking, the keeper of the bar repeatedly tells them to hurry up because the time is over. Towards the end, the two women depart bidding good night several times.
Fire Sermon
This section opens with the description of a dirty place by a riverside. The river is filled with garbage, and rats are pushing themselves here and there. The speaker tries to catch fish in this river and thinks about his father and brother. He recalls how both of them died in the same manner.
With the shift in the setting, the speaker narrates as an event when he was invited to homosexuality. He says that a merchant called Eugenides gave him an offer to have dinner with him and then spend the weekend with him in a notorious hotel.
Then, a speaker named Tiresias starts narrating the proceedings of a hectic day of a female typist. She is a young lady and works till late. She comes home after work, and the dirty dishes from breakfast wait for her in her room. She cleans the mess and waits for her lover. The lover, who is a dull young guy, comes, and they indulge in sexual activities. However, their actions have no warmth. The typist shows no emotions when the deed is being done. She even expresses her happiness when this activity ends.
At the end of this section, there are happier images of a church, a bar, and the river Thames. The speaker recalls the love affair of Earl of Leicester and Queen Elizabeth. The speaker says that Queen Elizabeth only thought about her people and sacrificed her personal likings for the interest of the people. Then, there is a confession of a lady of modern times who talks about her affairs with many men. She says that she was promised a new start, but she said nothing.
The last few lines of the section include a prayer to Lord where the speaker asks for salvation and mercy as he is burning in fire.
Death by Water
This section concerns the drowning of Phlebas. The speaker says that Phelabas has died by drowning in water and that his body has lost connection with the outside world. In the same manner, the speaker warns, the readers’ bodies will lose connection with the world, and they will die. Therefore, they should remember their own deaths.
What the Thunder Said
At the start of this section, the speaker talks about the condition of the modern man. He says that modern men move around in the cities, but they have lost their human vitality. They are unreal human beings. They might walk and work like living humans but are dead from the inside. Therefore, cities like London, Vienna, Athens, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, where these unreal humans live, have also become unreal. The speaker describes the condition of a chapel and says that it is empty. There is no one inside it but wind.
Suddenly, there is a shift in the setting, and the speaker describes the conditions of the east. He says that it is going to rain near the Ganges. Here the three aspects of thunder, according to Hindu mythology, are introduced. The first aspect of thunder is “Datta,” which means “give.” The second aspect of thunder is “Dayadhvam,” which means “sympathize.” The third aspect of thunder is “Damyata,” which means “control.” The poem ends with the repetition of the word “Shantih.”
Themes in The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
Death
Death soars over the poem. The reader is led towards death in almost every paragraph of the poem. Death is not only physical death but is also spiritual and moral. The people of the modern world are breathing but are dead in this life of theirs. They have lost the essence of life. The Sibyl of Cumae appears at the start of the poem. She has been granted eternal life. However, she is fed up with this life and wants to die. Her life is full of miseries and has no joy to offer. The same is the case with the rest of the characters in the poem.
The typist engages in sexual intercourse but has no emotional attachment with the person. Similarly, the wealthy woman at the start of the second section shows no signs of feelings towards her lover. In this way, the different shapes of death stay the dominant theme throughout the whole poem.
Loss of High Culture
Modern man does not have faith in the culture and traditions of his past. He does not want to revisit the past values, which resulted in a horrific war. The centers around which the society stood are no more acceptable to him. This theme recurs many times in the poem. There are many allusions to the works of the glorious past age, which contrast the gloom of the present against the joy of the past.
The speaker laments how the high standards of European culture are lost, and the modern man has died spiritually. Artificiality and materialism have taken the place of the originality of the high culture of the past.
Rebirth
Throughout the poem, there are instances of resurrection and rebirth. The modern man has died a spiritual death. However, the speaker has hope that resurrection is coming close. Soon the lost generation will retain their lost values and attain normality. The image of Christ is strewn throughout the poem, which symbolizes resurrection and rebirth.
The land described in the poem is barren and dry. There is no water to give birth to new life. Furthermore, Fisher King fishes desperately to regain his potency. These images bring hopelessness to the poem but are countered by the hopeful images of rebirth.
Physical Love
There are a lot of love relations in the poem. The allusion to the story of Philomel sets the tone for this theme. The aristocratic lady at the start of the second section waits for her lover. Similarly, the young typist girl waits for her dull lover in her room. Furthermore, there is a narration of a love affair involving the hyacinth girl. However, the common element between all these love relations is that they are devoid of any spirituality. Their love is only limited to physical needs and lust. They do not enjoy the communion of souls. Rather, it is just that their bodies meet and depart straight away. Everything about their love is mechanical and artificial. In this manner, the speaker reflects on the natural love in modern time.
Infertility
The title of the poem suggests that it is about a waste of land which is barren and dry. The same motif reoccurs in many instances in the poem. In the second line of the first section of the poem, the speaker refers to the land as dead. The water of Thames is also described as filthy. There are rats coming out of it. Similarly, there are other instances which stress the infertility of the modern man.
Spiritual Dryness
The modern man is breathing and walking but does not have the spiritual element intact. He is spiritually dry. He cannot interact with other humans in the old manner. His motives in modern times are greed and lust. The materialistic approach of modern times has left him hollow from the inside. His love has also become limited to physical desires only. This idea of spiritual dryness is manifested in many parts of the poem. The speaker speaks of the barren land and how the modern man cannot appreciate something as beautiful as the song of a nightingale. He cannot feel anything the way people did in the past.
The Waste Land Literary Analysis
The poem The Waste Land mourns the infertility of the modern world. It makes the modern man see what sort of damage he has done to the world. In the poem, there are bits and pieces of the beauties of the past, which are juxtaposed with the fragmented social structure of modern times. This way, it highlights the darkness of the modern world against the light of the past times.
Allusions
The poem The Waste Land is replete with allusions to other works of literature and mythology. Following are the major allusions found in this poem:
Unreal City
This is an allusion to a poem of Baudelaire, where this phrase refers to the city of Paris.
Madame Sosostris
This character is borrowed from Crome Yellow, a novel written by Aldous Huxley.
Crowd Flowed over London Bridge
This is an allusion to the famous work of Dante Inferno.
Those are Pearls that were his Eyes
This line is taken from one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare.
Belladonna
Belladonna is a famous painting of the Virgin Mary made by Leonardo De Vinci.
A Game of Chess
This is the name of the second section of the poem. It is borrowed from a play Women Beware Women. This play is written by Middleton.
Philomel
The episode in the poem, which involves the character Philomel is an allusion to Ovid’s Metamorphosis.
Water of Leman
It is an allusion to Lake Leman. Bonnivard was imprisoned near this lake.
Tiresias
The character of Tiresias is borrowed from a Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex.
Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata
These words are taken from Hindu mythology.
Symbolism
Following are the major symbols which appear in this poem:
Christ
The image of Christ can be seen in many instances in the poem. It functions as a symbol of rebirth. The modern man is shown to have died a spiritual death in the poem. However, there is still hope that he will regain what he has lost. This hope is symbolized through the recurrent image of Christ. This image promises rebirth after death.
Water
Water appears as a symbol of life and death many times in the poem. The lack of water shows the lack of spirituality in many instances in the poem. Water is used as a symbol of spirituality and vitality. At the same time, water symbolizes an impending death. One of the five sections of the poem is the name “Death by Water.” The tarot reader Madame Sosostris also warns about death by water. In this manner, water symbolizes death and life at different points in the poem.
Fire
Fire occurs as the symbol of purgation in the poem. The modern man has committed many sins. In order to purge himself, he should go through fire to cleanse himself. At one instance, the symbol of fire also signifies the lust of modern man.
Tone
The tone of the poem is mournful, nostalgic, and hopeful. The poem sounds mournful for the loss of spirituality and high culture in modern times. It mourns the materialistic tendencies of men towards life and other human beings. At the same time, it remembers the glorious past days with a feeling of nostalgia. It reflects on the difference between the organic society of the past and the fragmented society of the present. However, the poem is not completely pessimistic. It has the elements of hope connected with the idea of rebirth and resurrection.
Form
T. S. Eliot has employed a fragmented form for this poem to parallel the theme of fragmentation and disjointedness. The poem is divided into five sections, and each section stands for one of the five basic elements. These stanzas are again divided into stanzas spoken by different speakers. There is also no coherence in the content of the poem, and many different events and ideas are intermixed together. This type of form reaffirms the theme of chaotic and disjointed society in modern times.
Rhyme Scheme
There is no rhyming scheme followed in this poem. It was one of the significant characteristics of modern writing, where the writers followed no rules.
