The Waste Land Group

Question:

dilek
dilek
Student

Please explain Eliot's poem "The Waste Land."

I have to write an essay by Thursday

Rate question:

Posted by dilek on Wednesday May 21, 2008 at 4:37 AM and tagged with anaylsis, explanation, summary, the waste land, themes.

Answers:


  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    There simply is not enough space here to explain "The Waste Land" adequately. Please read the eNotes study guide has excellent articles on the themes, style, and historical context of the poem, as well as critical essays on its structure and literary impact and a critical overview.

    As for writing your essay, you might find the article "How to Write a Good Essay on English Literature" helpful. I've included a link to that page in the sources section below. I've also pasted a link to the Oxford Companion to English Literature article on the poem.

    Good luck!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/oce-encyclopedia/waste-land
    http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-write-good-essay-english...
    http://www.enotes.com/waste-land/

    Rate answer:

    Posted by linda-allen on Wednesday May 21, 2008 at 6:54 AM


  2. amy-lepore Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    The first section, as the section title indicates (The Burial of the Dead), is about death. The narrator is surrounded by a desolate land full of "stony rubbish."

    The next section, "A Game of Chess," transports the reader abruptly from the streets of London to a gilded drawing room, in which sits a rich, jewelry-laden lady who complains about her nerves and wonders what to do.  the poem then switches to a pub where two Cockney women are talking.  In just a few words we move from the upper crust of society to the dregs.

    "The Fire Sermon" opens with an image of a river. The narrator sits on the banks and muses on the deplorable state of the world.

    "Death by Water," the fourth section of the poem, describes a dead Phoenician lying in the water -- perhaps the same drowned sailor of whom Madame Sosostris (in section one) spoke.

    The final section of the poem, "What the Thunder Said" calls for rain...a cleansing of sorts...and it comes.

    The general theme is desolation, decay, and ruin of society through war, vice, and the dark side of human nature. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/waste-land/summary

    Rate answer:

    Posted by amy-lepore on Wednesday May 21, 2008 at 1:03 PM