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The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot, is a poem that revolves around the alienation and disintegration tendencies of human existence. The poet elucidates the inanities of the modern world by employing many ideas borrowed from diversified sources such as Hindu mantras, Buddhist teachings and ideas of Existentialist thinkers. In The Waste land’, Eliot has conveyed to his readers the post-modernist version of Existentialism through fragmented narratives, and has delineated the meaninglessness and absurdity of life in the modern world.
The poem has 364 lines and is divided into five main parts. Eliot employs fragmented images, which serves as a reflection of the chaotic and frenzied political landscape of 1922. The verses are used to denote various historical incidents, like the quest for Holy Grail and Shakespearean views of religion and European societies. The poem embodies postmodernism with its radical aesthetic style, very different from established poetic conventions.
The poem combines modern scenes of banality with scenes from past cultures, and through this has invoked a picture of the spiritual dryness that can be witnessed in the modern society.
“By the waters of Leman I sat down and weptSweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.”
In the above lines, Eliot compares the now polluted River Thames, which is full of floating objects like cigarette ends and Sandwich papers, with the Thames described in the poem called "Prothalamion", written in the sixteenth century, by Edmund Spenser that describes a marriage scene happening in the river banks. The lines also remind of the Hebrews, who wept in the river banks, when they were exiled from their homeland.
The cultural pasts presented by Eliot throughout the poem emphasizes how economic slavery, dependency on science, and materialistic living style have created a moral paralysis in modern men. With alternating narrations, foreign phrases, and combinations of monologues, dialogues, and descriptions, Eliot offers his readers a post modernistic approach to the theme of despair and disillusionment. The poem has quotes from many other texts and has a disjointed structure, with images and verses jumping form one scene to another suddenly, without clearly indicating the shifts to the readers. This style further accentuates the theme of listlessness and ambiguity of life.
The poem ends with the words ‘Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.’ These words encapsulate the entire message given by the poet. These Sanskrit words translate into – donate, be compassionate, and have control over oneself. This is the advice given by Elliott to lure the humankind out of the trap of a meaningless existence, and he does it through a poem, which has a narrative that deviates drastically from the traditional structures and styles of poetic literature.
Works Cited
Eliot, T. (1922). THE WASTE LAND. Retrieved from wasteland.windingway.org: http://wasteland.windingway.org/
