Analysis

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The Waste Land is an essential modernist text. Like most modernist works from the first half of the twentieth century, the poem deals with the mass cultural disillusionment following World War I. There was a sense that the values of the former century were no longer relevant in a world where such a pointless, brutal war could be a reality, leaving thousands of soldiers and civilians traumatized. This gloomy outlook manifests in various ways throughout the work, mostly in its grand allusions to other texts and its desolate imagery.

The Waste Land's style conveys a sense of fragmentation and chaos. Its use of free verse is a challenge to the more structured forms of poetry which dominated earlier eras—even the popular poems of just a decade before. (However, Eliot also uses blank verse and end rhymes at particular parts of the poem to lend emphasis.) Eliot also blends both high and low culture into his multitude of references and allusions, including everything from Ovid and Shakespeare to contemporary music, alluding to a loss of hierarchy in the modern age. The poem often alludes to classic myths and legends, such as the story of the Holy Grail and Greek tragedies; the blind prophet Tiresias and the Oracle of Delphi both appear as characters, for instance.

The myriad of allusions to other works within the poem are also Eliot's way of establishing his creation in the greater context of the history of human culture. He is taking pieces from what came before—whether that be other poetry or religious ideologies—and making something new from them. However, it should be noted that Eliot's allusions are largely Western, with the addition of references to the Buddha's Fire Sermon in the third section and the Upanishads in the fifth.

The imagery within the poem focuses on decay and death, with emphasis on dead trees and land, brown fog, and barren plants. The apocalyptic imagery ties into the modernist philosophy that the old ways no longer apply in an ever-changing modern world, given its new morals and technologies. While the month of April is evoked in one of the poem's most famous lines ("April is the cruellest month"), Eliot subverts the audience's traditional interpretation of April and springtime by placing a greater emphasis on death as opposed to rebirth and renewal.

Places Discussed

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London

London. Great Britain’s capital city, a place cloaked in brown fog, is populated by people who walk in circles without connection to anything or anyone. The walk from London Bridge down King William Street leads past a church to the financial district, which for Eliot represents spiritual and cultural emptiness. Although the street, named after William the Conqueror, the first king of England, and the church carry important names in England’s rich history and religious experience, the citizens take no note of them. Other scenes convey this spiritual emptiness: a tawdry sexual encounter between a clerk and a secretary in her shabby apartment and a conversation in a saloon involving an anxious pregnant woman concerned about how to deal with a pregnancy by another man now that her lover is returning from a tour of duty in the army.

London Bridge

London Bridge. Historic bridge over the River Thames; a transcendental symbol of all that is good and promising in contemporary life, London Bridge leads to the city of the dead, to the loss of possibility and meaningful spiritual life.

River Thames

River Thames (tehmz). England’s greatest river symbolizes a more romantic and joyful past and, in its present polluted condition, the spiritual emptiness of modern life. An elaboration of this symbolism comes in the reference to the Leman, the Swiss name for Lake Geneva, where Eliot was convalescing while writing this poem. Through the connection of watery sites, Eliot identifies with the biblical psalmist lamenting the spiritual desolation of the exiled Jews in Babylon.

Europe

Europe. Selected sites in Europe also convey a sense of lack of roots or connection to the past. The references to the Starnberger See and the Hofgarten convey a sense of nostalgia for an earlier, more innocent time.

Ganga

Ganga. The water references to the Ganges, India’s sacred river, and the dark clouds over Himavant, the Himalayan Mountains, symbolize the potential for spiritual renewal.

Historical Context

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World War I

When Eliot released The Waste Land in 1922, it was widely recognized as capturing the sense of disillusionment in Europe after World War I. This global conflict originated from a local catastrophe. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, took a consequential trip to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina—two provinces under his family's rule—where he and his wife were assassinated. These killings highlighted regional tensions among some inhabitants of the provinces, who wanted to rejoin Serbia. Serbia, eager to reclaim Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported the orchestrations of the assassinations.

Upon discovering Serbia's involvement, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, exactly one month after the assassination. In earlier times, this might have led to a localized conflict between the two nations. However, due to a complex web of pre-existing alliances, most European countries were drawn into the war, greatly intensifying the conflict. Eventually, the list of participants expanded to include the United States and parts of Asia, all aligning themselves with either the pro-Serbian "Allies" or the "Central" powers supporting Austria-Hungary.

When hostilities commenced in August 1914, each side believed that modern weapons such as hand grenades, tanks, long-range artillery, and poison gas would result in a swift and efficient war with minimal casualties. The opposite occurred, and the war dragged on for four years along two primary fronts. The Western Front, stretching through France, saw some of the war's bloodiest battles. An extensive trench system defined this front, with trenches running the entire length on both sides. Allied and Central soldiers occupied their respective trenches, often in close proximity, and through a series of battles, each side tried to push the other out of their trench and move the line back with a barrage of grenades and machine-gun fire. The outcomes were devastating. For years, trench warfare led to a stalemate, with the death toll rising as each side continuously reinforced their trenches.

The Lost Generation

By the time the war officially concluded in 1918, an estimated eight million people had perished, with countless others injured. For the generation that reached adulthood during or shortly after the conflict, life appeared grim. Many young men and women felt disillusioned or hopeless about their futures and the sanctity of humanity. Although this entire generation was labeled the Lost Generation, most critics today specifically associate this term with a group of American writers who channeled their disillusionment into social protest, creating some of the finest works of twentieth-century literature in the process.

Many of these writers, including Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, became expatriates residing in Europe. Paris emerged as a particularly notable hub where several emerging authors benefited from the guidance of more experienced writers like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.

Literary Style

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Modernism

The most crucial aspect of this work, which influences all others, is its association with the literary movement known as modernism—a movement this piece helped to define. Modernism is a broad term used to describe post–World War I literature that utilizes techniques seen in Eliot's The Waste Land. These techniques, along with those typical of modernist literature, represented a revolt against traditional literature, which was characterized by its specific forms and rules. For instance, in conventional poetry, poets often aimed for consistency in stanza length and meter. Those who could navigate these often stringent rules while still expressing themselves uniquely or movingly were deemed good poets. However, especially after World War I, as literature and other art forms transitioned from a traditional, romantic, or idealized approach to one that highlighted gritty realism, discontinuity, and despair, artists began exploring nontraditional forms, ideas, and styles.

Disillusioned by the war, artists and writers like Eliot rejected the logical, traditional thinking they believed contributed to the war's onset and escalation. Eliot's poem, with all its complexity and obscurity, serves as a showcase of modernist poetic techniques. These include free verse, irregular stanza lengths, snippets of dialogue, quotations from other works, phrases in various languages, unclear transitions, conflicting ideologies such as Christianity and paganism, candid discussions and depictions of sexuality, and more. Each of these elements defied traditional norms. Together, as many critics have observed, the profound modernistic impact of this single work created a significant stir in the public consciousness.

Media Adaptations

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In 2000, Eliot’s The Waste Land along with several other works were transformed into an unabridged audiobook, narrated by the author himself. T. S. Eliot Reads: The Waste Land, Four Quartets, and Other Poems can be found through HarperAudio.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources

Aiken, Conrad, “An Anatomy of Melancholy,” in New Republic, Vol. 33, No. 427, February 7, 1923, pp. 294–95.

Brooker, Jewel Spears, “T. S. Eliot,” in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 45: American Poets, 1880–1945, First Series, edited by Peter Quartermain, Gale Research, 1986, pp. 150–81.

Cooper, John Xiros, T. S. Eliot and the Politics of Voice: The Argument of “The Waste Land,” UMI Research Press, 1987.

Eliot, T. S., The Waste Land, in The Waste Land and Other Poems, edited by Frank Kermode, Penguin Books, 1998, pp. 53–69.

Ellmann, Richard, “The First Waste Land-I,” in New York Review of Books, Vol. 17, No. 8, November 8, 1971, pp. 10, 12, 14–16.

Hargrove, Nancy Duvall, “T. S. Eliot,” in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 7: Twentieth-Century American Dramatists, edited by John MacNicholas, Gale Research, 1981, pp. 151–72.

Torrens, James S., “T. S. Eliot: 75 Years of ‘The Waste Land,’” in America, Vol. 177, October 25, 1997, pp. 24–27.

Vendler, Helen, “T. S. Eliot,” in Time, Vol. 151, No. 22, June 8, 1998, p. 108.

Further Reading

Bloom, Harold, ed., T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (Modern Critical Interpretations), Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Bloom compiles criticism on The Waste Land from the 1950s through the 1980s, some appearing here for the first time. The book also includes an introduction by Bloom, a timeline, and a bibliography.

Conrad, Winston Stuart, Hemingway’s France: Images of the Lost Generation, Woodford Publishing, 2000. This photo-essay book primarily explores Hemingway’s life but also covers many prominent figures from the Lost Generation, including Eliot. Conrad’s contemporary color photos of France are set against historical black-and-white images of the locales and artists who lived there post-World War I.

Fitch, Noel Riley, Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties and Thirties, W. W. Norton, 1983. Sylvia Beach’s Paris bookshop had a significant impact on Lost Generation writers. Fitch uses the Beach family archives to detail her interactions with these authors, including Eliot.

Keegan, John, The First World War, Knopf, 1999. Many books cover World War I, but Keegan’s work is often regarded as one of the most thorough, precise, and impartial. As a respected historian, Keegan uses original documents to guide readers through the war’s complex causes and events.

Moody, A. David, ed., The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot, Cambridge University Press, 1994. Moody’s collection provides an extensive overview of Eliot’s life and works. Contributors delve into various aspects, from Eliot’s philosophical influences to his impact on 20th-century poetry, offering both critical and biographical perspectives. The book includes a chapter on The Waste Land, a timeline, and a list of recommended readings.

Bibliography

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Bergonzi, Bernard. “Allusion in The Waste Land.” Essays in Criticism 20, no. 3 (July, 1970): 382-385. An important analysis of Eliot’s use of both high and low allusions in the poem.

Brooks, Cleanth, Jr. “The Waste Land: An Analysis.” Southern Review 3, no. 1 (1937-1938): 106-136. An influential New Critical reading of the poem that draws out the complexities and the ironic structure.

Canary, Robert H. T. S. Eliot: The Poet and His Critics. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982. A thorough bibliography on the poet and his works and a series of bibliographical essays that discuss various critics who have dealt with Eliot’s criticism and poetry.

Frye, Northrop. T. S. Eliot. New York: Grove Press, 1963. An analysis of Eliot’s works primarily the critical perspective of myth. Excellent conclusions on the archetypal aspects of The Waste Land.

Kenner, Hugh, ed. T. S. Eliot: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1962. A useful collection of essays, part of the Twentieth Century Views series. Contains a number of important essays, including three on The Waste Land.

Williamson, George. A Reader’s Guide to T. S. Eliot. New York: Noonday Press, 1953. A close reading of all of Eliot’s poems, with a useful introduction to the interpretative problems of The Waste Land.

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