The Waste Land, written in 1922, Has long been considered T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece. In its five sections, it talks about war, trauma, disillusionment, death and the effects of World War I. The poem’s final line, however, asks for peace with the repetition of “shantih” (the Sanskrit word for “peace”). The title of the poem “The Waste Land” is linked to the quotation from Dante’s Inferno (XIV, v. 96) “paese guasto”. Furthermore, the poem has been affected by From Ritual to Romance by Ms. Jessie L. Westan, about the quest for the Holy Grail. The title recalls the ancient vegetation or fertility myths and primitive folklore associated with the sterility of a land affected by the impotence of its rules. The title of the poem is very significant because it refers to the general crisis of Western culture after World War I. According to the title, a general theme could be the contrast between the fertility of a mythical past and the spiritual sterility of the present world. The principal themes are: - The meaningful link with the past; - the emptiness and sterility of modern life at different levels; - the natural theme (the land is dry, polluted and unfruitful); - the social theme (people are unable to love and communicate with each other); - the spiritual theme (people don’t believe in religious values anymore).
The poem consists of five sections: - Part I opens with the famous line “April is the cruelest month”. The speaker, Marie, is a young woman who represents the physical and emotional devastation caused by the war. - Parts II and III describe the inside of a wealthy woman’s bedroom and the polluted waters of the Thames. - Part IV praises a drowned man named Phlebas. - In the fifth and final part of the poem, the speaker “translates” the thunderlaps cracking over an Indian jungle.
The burial of the dead In the first section the poem’s speaker talks about how spring is an awful time of the year, increasing memories of past days and unfulfilled desires. Then the poem focuses on childhood memories of a woman named Marie. A game of chess
You are transported to the sparkly room of a rich woman, and on the wall there is an image of “the change of Philomel”, a woman of the Greek mythology who was raped by King Tereus and then changed into a nightingale. The section finishes with a scene of two women chatting and trying to sneak in a few more drinks before closing time at the bar. The frequent request by the bartender emphasizes the pressure of time, until arriving to the departure of Ophelia, taken from Hamlet, “Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.” The fire sermon Section three opens with a speaker who’s spending his time beside London’s River Thames and reflecting about the fact that there’s no magic left in the world. The focus returns back to the story of Philomel for a second, then another speaker tells about how he might have been asked for a weekend of sex by a “Smyrna merchant”. Next, you’re hearing from Tiresias, a blind prophet who was turned into a woman for seven years by the goddess Hera. You hear about a scene where a modern young man and a woman are having loveless sex. Finally, you overhear someone singing a popular song, which just sounds depressing. Buddha and St. Augustine In the third part of The Waste Land Eliot evokes Buddha and Saint Augustine, that had experimented the pleasures of senses, before following their spiritual path. The fire here is a symbol of purification. Death by water The main theme of the fourth part of the poem is – opposed to the fire in the third part – water, symbol of lust and depravity, but also an element that gives a sense of purity. According to Ugo Foscolo, this theme is very important. In fact, in his poem “A Zacinto” he discusses about the theme of water connected to the maternal image; water is seen as the only source of life, so life itself. What the thunder said Section five takes you to a stony landscape, in which the narrator describes what has happened since the death of Christ. People were shouting and crying since his death, there was prison and police involvement and everyone was speaking of Christ who had just recently died.
