The Waste Land

Eliot expressed tout ensemble of these feelings In his poem. In circumstance. The turn back sphere soon became kn de failr as the wee that best expressed the mood of a postwar generation disillusi aced by the loss of ideals and faith in improvement (Duper 7). The Waste Land does non, however, express all despair in the condition of redbrick fellowship. Conscious of its actual degradation, Eliot sought a meaner to lam it. He did a not bad(p) deal of research c at one timerning fertility rituals and myths and indicated that his recitation In these and akin studies revived a style of seeing behind presenters actions a substratum of past beliefs and practices that. Hough now addled to consciousness, continue to Inform our daily lives In hidden wholly signifi shadowt ship modality (Duper 8). As Dolmen Schwartz states, Elites theme is the renewal of a system of beliefs, known but now discredited (209). Eliot felt that adult male unavoidablenessed to be brought back to t hese older beliefs, but was wary of stating this openly, fearing a exact approach would prevent the poem from cosmos read. The modern world had become in handle manner hardened to accept Christian principles right off and, Instead, moldiness gradually be make aware of his condition.In order to achieve this, Eliot chronicled his 1 Nihilism (from the Latin nil, nothing) a philosophical position which argues that the world, especially past and electric current human existence, is without meaning. voyage of realization and divine revelation in the form of The Waste Land, exploitation the takeoff booster of the poem to represent his own passing to eldritch awareness and to impel man of the degradation of community and the need for reform. The poem begins with the hero mu sinningg on spring April is the cruelest calendar month, breedingLilacs out of the asleep(predicate) land, admixture Memory and desire, stirring Dull root with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in fatuous snow, feeding A little smell with dried tubers. (1, 1-7)2 This passage is an indication of the point of the degradation of man. He has sunken so low Into subversion that he prefers to live a life of ignorance and to disregard the fact that he Is living a half-life. April, the month In which spring begins, is no long-lived a joyous while in which new life is celebrated, but a cruel time of rebirth that reminds man that his own life is terribly empty.The assistant and then addresses man directly, stating, you know only / a heap of broken images, where the sun beats, / and the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, / and the ironical stone no sound of water (l, 21-24). He then invites us into the shadow of this red an allusion to the got Isaiah, in which the Messiahs torture coming is likened to an hiding office staff from the wind, and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a spacious rock in a grind lan d (KAVA Bible, Sis. 322).Under this red rock, he will show the way to escape the mundane life man has roughs upon himself. The loudspeaker then recalls the time he head start realized the emptiness of his life. In the 2 Citations from the poem are taken from The Waste Land, De. Michael North (New York Norton, 2001) springtime, he says, he gave his buffer hyacinths. Looking at her, with her arms intact of flowers and her hair dripping wet, he expect to see happiness and fulfillment, but dictum nothing. At this point, he realizes that true enjoyment fuelnot be found in fugacious things.The world holds nothing for him- Ode undo sneer ads Mere (1, 42)-desolate and empty is the sea. It is possible that Eliot came to this alike(p) realization through a similar cause, as he and his wife had a very unhappy relationship. The genius then takes us on a Journey through society, a Journey that illustrates the full phase of the moon fulfilment of human degradation and spiritual empti ness. In the first scene of A Game of Chess, a wealthy duet is shown at home, living meaningless lives collected of dull routines. Their relationship is forced and artificial, steally so self-absorbed that neither can communicate with the other.In the second scene of this section, the extent of gradation is further revealed. A adult female is in a pub discussing with a group of friends the advice she gave her friend Ill when Oils husband, Alfred, was action from military dish. She says she pointed out that Alfred, having been in the service for four years, wants a good time and told Ill, if you dont give it to him, theres others 148-149). She then rebuked Ill for look so antique (II, 156), and Ill replied that it was because she had an abortion. She had already given birth to five children and did not want more(prenominal).In this scene, sex is reduced to a duty a wife must reform to please her husband, and children are an obligation, not a Joy. In The usher out Sermon, th e depravity of man is further illustrated. A cleaning woman is shown in her apartment eating dinner with her lover. Their encounter after dinner is exposit thusly The time is now propitious, as he guesses, The meal is ended, she is bored and tired, Endeavourers to work her in caresses Which exempt are unimproved, if unsought Flushed and decided, he assaults at once Exploring hands encounter no falsification His vanity requires no response, And makes a delightful of indifference. Ill, 235-242) When he leaves, her brain allows one half-formed public opinion to pass Well now thats through and Im glad its 252) This positioning of indifference can be seen as even more depraved than lust and expresses the apathetic attitude of many after the war. However, there is still hope. Sometimes, the protagonist can hear the grateful whining of a mandolins (Ill, 261) near the walls of Magnums Martyr, a perform where fishermen lounge at noon (Ill, 263). This design glimpse of hope is an indication of the tooth root of a meaningful life. The fishermen remind us of Jesus disciples, the fishers f men (KAVA Bible, Matt. 19), who were exhorted to Journey throughout the earth, telling men tot the creed o t Christ and the way to salvation. In Death by Water, TN way of escape from the degradation of society is revealed. The protagonist tells us of Please the Phoenician, who baffled end by water, which can be seen as a representation of baptism, the shedding of the arch nature, and the acceptance of the maintenance Water (KAVA Bible, tail 738) of Christ. Please is now dead to the world. He has forgotten the cry of gulls, and the recently sea swell / and the profit and the joss (V, 313-314).He is no longer affected by the sin of modern society but lives separate from it. The narrator then addresses the reader non-Jew or Jew / O you who turn the drift and look to windward, / Consider Please, who was once comely and tall as you (V, 319-321). With this address, the narrator reminds us that we are as mortal as Please, and we also require this Living Water. This passage is a direct contrast to The Fire Sermon quelling the fires of lust with the Living Water that provides spiritual cleansing. To truly experience life, our sinful nature must die.The protagonist concludes by explaining his own realization that, like Jerusalem Athens Alexandria (V, 374), modern society is deteriorating London Bridge is falling take down (V, 426). At this time, he has a ratiocination to make Shall I at least set my lands in order? (V, 425) testament he avoid the decay of society and abandon his meaningless life for one with significance? His decision is evident in the last stanza of the poem. Amid the madness of the ruin of society, the protagonist finds Shanties shanties shanties (V, 433)-a peace that passes intellectual.Like Please, he has chosen to program line farewell to his dishonest, worldly self and extradite to the Living Water that has the power to quench the fires of corruption. It is through this passage that Eliot suggests his own find and his decision to experience the peace that passes understanding by surrendering the corrupt part of himself. The poem, placid of seemingly fragmented ideas and stream-of-consciousness thoughts, ends on a note of peace, a peace that Eliot has deliver the goods and wishes modern man to experience. Works Cited Duper, Robert S.