Course: M.A.
English (Sem-3)
Paper no.:
9, the Modernist Literature
Topic:
Eliot’s Use of images in ‘The Wasteland’
Roll no.: 23
Year:
2015-2017
Submitted to:
S.B. Gardi, Department of English
M.K. Bhavnagar
University
Introduction:
T.S. Eliot, the greatest modern English poet
was an American by birth and an Englishman by adoption.
Thomas Sterns Eliot was born
on 26th September 1888 in St. Louis Missouri. He was known as an
essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and “one of the 20th century’s major poets”. He
became a naturalized British Subject in 1927. As such he had the blending of
the best of the American blood and the English intellect. He combined in
himself strange and opposing characteristics. He came to possess a many sided
personality. He was a classist, an innovator, a critic social reformer and a
mystic all combined into one.
He was contribution in
literature from 1905 to 1965. He wins the Nobel Prize in literature from the
1948. Eliot more attention for his poem “The Love Song
of Alfred Prufrock” in 1915, which is seen as a masterpiece of the
modernist movement, and ‘The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock’ was his first work.
He wrote the poem ‘The
Wasteland’, while recovering from the exhaustion from 1911 to 1914, he returned
back to Harvard where he expanded his knowledge by reading Indian Philosophy
and studying Sanskrit. In 1922 another poetic work comes out in shape of ‘The
Waste Land’ a complex examination of disillusionment. This work was immediately
spread like a virus in all literary corners and it is frequently considered as
the most influential work in 20th century. His major works are: 1) “Ash Wednesday” -1930
2) “Four Quarters” -1945
3) “Use of Criticism” -1933
4) “After Strange Gods” -1934
About
The Waste Land:
T.S.
Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ is by far the most representative poem by the 20th
century. The title of this long epic poem itself suggests the essence of this
poem that what is all about.
‘The Waste Land’ means barren
land. The word “waste” it means nothing, deserted, something is grow and
infertile land and the land here, Eliot talk about the city of London also. In
this poem Eliot talk about the western culture, his location and notion by the
western culture.
He
criticizes sexual perversion, spiritual degradation and dehumanization of
western society. He is showing mirror to the world that they are, rather than
praising his culture, he attacks the rottenness of his culture. It exposes the
very soul of the modern generation with all its horrors moral, spiritual and
intellectual bankruptcy, disillusionment and waste.
The
poem is archetype way. A poem made of the collage of images. The title ‘The
waste Land’ also suggests the image of London. Here, T.S. Eliot also uses the
collage of images in this poem. The poem is written as a tribute to Ezra Pound.
The
poem ‘The Waste Land’ is difficult to understand because it has effect of
fragmented images also this all the poem if not find the clear cut picture of
the poem. Eliot wrote not merely to understand the war but he wanted to show
spiritual degradation through this poem. The waste Land divided into five parts
of the like:
1)
A Burial of The Dead
2)
A Game of Chase
3)
The Fire Sermon
4)
Death by Water
5)
What the Thunder Said
Use of Images in the Waste Land
In
the first part, ‘A Burial of the Dead’ – the poem start from the season which
is reflect the images. The season of April, winter, spring reflect the
something death or something happens also. The main idea of the poem is ‘life
in death and death in life’. Death is considered here as a celebration because
now you are free from all things. The poem ‘A Burial of the Dead’ – we can see
there are many images like landscape scene, deserted place, rocks, fear in
handful dust, no water, heap of broken image also the image of unreal city. The
unreal city of London and the crowd that move’s over London Bridge. The unreal city
may be any city in the spiritual Waste land. The crowds moving over London
Bridge are spiritually dead citizens of the waste land going their daily round
of dull routine.
The
speaker also talks about a true wasteland of ‘stony rubbish’. He said that man
can recognize only heap of broken images. In this, we can also see the image of
red rock, which is symbol of Christianity and church of Christian. And the
protagonist invites the waste landers to seek shelter from the god by accepting
the message of Christ. This is the hope of salvation for them, faith can bring
salvation. The poem scene seems to offers salvation shade and a vision of
something new and different. In this vision is something connected with handful
dust? Here we can find some another images like, image of water. The speaker
talks about the water and stone. He symbolizes the water as a metaphor and also
the symbol. It means that, who don’t know the power of purity of water. So
here, we can say that water is as an archetype image. The key image in the
waste land is that Sosostris’s vision of “crowds of people, walking round in a
ring”. They walk and walk, but go nowhere. The image of Madame Sosostris, She
was a fashionable fortune teller. And when we can see her image, at the central
part – we see the image of women and her head connected with the cross which is
connected with the Christianity.
The
speaker clings to memories that would seem to suggest life in all its vibrancy
and wonder. As an image we can see in the poem that summer rain in Munich,
coffee in a German park, a girl wearing flowers, this all about the poem’s
sensibility.
“A
Game of Chase” is the next chapter of the Waste Land. In this poem there are
many images use like, image of Xylograph, image of spiritual death and the
wind, the image of Philomela. In this poem, chess is also represents the lifeless
life, it is quintessential game of the wasteland which is depend on numbers and
cold strategies, and also devoid of feeling or human contact. In the poem,
interaction is reduced to a set of movements on a checkered board.
In
the image of spiritual death and the wind, we can see the wind is represented
here as a symbol of change. Another image of Xylographer in lady’s chamber is
shows that that lady waits for her lover, her thoughts becomes frantic
meaningless cries, her day culminates with plans for a game of chess. The image
of Philomela, Here we can see that she is found class of high and low in the
poem. In this poem, the things are focusing on two opposing section, one of
high society and second is lower classes. The first half of the section
portrayed a wealthy, highly groomed woman surrounded by exquisite furnishing
also one woman who spending money of his husband and one suffering from money.
This is about like Lady Philomela. The image of Nightingale which is
inviolable.
In
the third part “The Fire Sermon”, Eliot opens this section with the image of a
river, wind crossing silently overhead. We can also say that the poem’s title
also suggest the image this section is taken from the famous Sermon. Sermon is
the image of Lord Buddha in which the world is shown burning with last and
passion and hatred and a thousand other evils. Sermon also represents the
dangers of lust. The stanza of “Burning burning burning” recalls the Buddha’s
Fire Sermon. In another stanza, “O Lord thou pluckest me out, O Lord thou
pluckest me burning” – it is also remind one of the confession of St. Augustine
wherein he represents the last as a burning cauldron. ‘Tiresias’ is also image
which is connected with the story of king Oedipus and Thebes. The autumn leaves have fallen down and the
wind moves without any rustle. Autumn is the symbol of death.
Death
by Water, in this part Eliot describes a man Phebas the Phoenician who has died
apparently by drawing. Water is important in humans’ life because no one can
live without water. So, death by water is reflected the image of archetype and the
image of tragic water world. Human being we must act and do either evil or
good, and it is better to do evil than to do nothing.
The
poem ‘What the Thunder Said’ it is entire leads to the ideas of Jesus Christ.
We can also say that the waste land poem connected with the Christianity. The
image of water and the Jesus was carried away religion. The image of Dead
Mountain, it is also reflect the recurring time and again. The idea about the
dead of god and god never dies. We can see here that all human being believe in
god. So, human cannot believe the death of god so it is conflict between god
and human. Here, three images are more important,
Datta = God
Dayadhvam = Human
Damayata = Demons
The word Datta it means given, Dayadhvam connected with
human and Damayata is connected with the demon, it means pity-sympathy. At the
end the word use ‘Shantih’, it means the peace that passes understanding it a
silent and muteness.
So,
here we can conclude that these all five poems are not end with hope but end
with despire but with a message of hope or the inhabits of the modern land. So,
the poems uses various images in the Waste Land.
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