On first reading T.S Eliot’s “The Waste Land” it instantly became clear to me as to why this text has been regarded as one of the monumental works of the period known as high modernism. The poem which is undoubtedly complex, I found at first to be quite intimidating as it was nothing like traditional poetry. Its structure is fragmented with little indication of where one section begins and another ends. It moves from blank verse to free verse with little warning and often changes in the style of writing. What is most apparent about T.S Eliot’s work is the use of allusion, although it is hard to understand where all the references come from, he uses literary work, mythology, religious works and history. After gaining some understanding of the context of the poem combined with a closer look at some of Eliot’s references, the idea that he, like many of his contemporaries was vastly disillusioned by WW1 and the impact it had on Western Society began to make sense. As the poem is quite long I have focused mainly on the first two parts to show some meaning behind “The Waste Land”
The first impression of the poem I got came from the title itself, “The Waste Land” which is a reference to J.L Weston’s work “From Ritual to Romance.” Weston writes of the Fisher King who has become infertile as a result of injury, and whose infertility has spread throughout the entire land turning it barren. This is the first sign of not only the subject matter of the poem but also its mood. The epigraph which is a quote from “The Satyricon” comes from the Sybil of Cumae. As stated in the notes although she has almost eternal life, her body is deteriorating and she asks for death. When reading the first of the five sections of “The Waste Land” titled “The Burial of the Dead” it is apparent that the land described is infertile like that of the Fisher King’s and there is a sense that life is no longer wanted. This idea is further explored in the very first line of the poem: “April is the cruellest month, breeding.” The mood is bleak with little hope for the coming of new life.
In the first stanza references to Germany are made including a quote in German. The point of view of a German woman, Marie is used in this first part of the poem to compare the present state of the land in the spring, to the past. As a child she had a sense of freedom “In the mountains, there you feel free”. Eliot uses the German imagery and juxtaposes it against images such as “dead tree,” “dry stone no sound of water” and “red rock.” He purposefully evokes images of the First World War, and life after it as being bound by destruction. Through the first two stanzas Eliot is commenting on the devastation caused by the war and the “Waste Land” which it has left. In the fourth stanza of the poem starting with line 60 Eliot goes on to describe the city of London, using such imagery as “Under the brown fog…a crowd flowed over London Bridge” suggesting the low nature of the modern city. With the quote “I had not thought death had undone so many” Eliot alludes to Dante’s “Inferno” and instantaneously creates images of modern day London and Europe as being alike to medieval hell. This suggests the idea that Eliot himself saw all modern culture as disintegrating.
In the following section “A Game of Chess” this idea of the deterioration of modern society is further explored. In the first stanza life is depicted by describing a woman and her seemingly splendid surroundings “The Chair she sat in, like a modern throne” alludes to Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra.” Despite this her overall actions and emotions suggest a meaningless life. She calls to her lover and repetitively requests he expose his thoughts to her. Her entire existence is based around her wanting to play a game of chess. Eliot immediately jumps from this passage to a conversation between two women of the working class sitting in a pub. The syntax changes with shorter more concise sentences and colloquial language is used. It is a description of one woman’s ultimate deterioration because of the abortion she had to have and takes the reader back to the theme of death and destruction. Eliot ultimately leaves us the readers with the understanding that both women whether of high or low culture, are representative of the collapse of the society to which they belong.
Discussion point: Does T.S Eliot’s “The Waste Land” offer any hope for modern society?
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