"The Waste Land", T.S. Eliot

“The Waste Land”(1922), Thomas Stearns Eliot’s (1888-1965) masterpiece and most celebrated poem, edited by his close friend Ezra Pound (1885-1972), was written at a time in which the author endured a serious intellectual and spiritual crises as well as a personal dilemma concerning his marriage. In his unique way, T.S.Eliot expressed this complicated state of mind and feeling and he did it so brilliantly that even today one can mention a pre-Waste Land and a post-Waste Land period when referring to Eliot’s work.

The poem also marks a specific period in History – it portrays the decadent, degrading and chaotic plunge Britain and Europe (mainly Eastern) took in the Post-World War I aftermath.

It is not easy to read “The Waste Land” as its main language, characteristic of Eliot, involves the recurrent use of quotations and allusions to other works, references to many languages and the implication of a wide range of fact and learning. It resembles a puzzle that can only be deciphered through patience and, as the author put it, by someone who possesses a vast literary knowledge. The poem is also filled with private jokes and playful obscurity, which is the reason why, when it was first published, it was received by many critics as an hoax.

Divided into five parts, the whole poem can be viewed as an epic, albeit a condensed one, which main poles, around which all other themes revolve, are Death and Sex – Death, not as an ending, but viewed in the cyclic perspective of ‘in order for something to be created, something else must die’, the renewal of life, of nature, of history, of existence; and Sex, not so much the literal assumption of the word (the physiological need), but understood as the means to reach the state which is closest to the metaphysical experience of achieving Nirvana or, to put it in the Christian perspective as  Eliot did, “to be one with God”.

Starting with its title, throughout the reading of the poem, many questions are raised in one’s mind. What at first seems a simple reference can come to be so much more when one pores over its meaning. And this is the impression we get: that the author was aiming at raising as many questions as possible, leading us into digging a little of this “land” to find what lies underneath.

Due to its complicated nature and innumerous allusions and references, an exhaustive analysis of the whole poem would take us months (if not years) to fulfill, thus we have decided on focusing on the fifth part, entitled “What The Thunder Said”.  In it, Eliot explores three main themes: the journey to Emmaus (‘The Holy Bible”, Lc 24), the approach to the Perilous Chapel (reference to “The Grail Stories”, by Jessie L. Weston) and the decay of Eastern Europe (after World War I). In class we will approach and discuss this themes.

For now we’d like to challenge you to reflect and discuss upon the title and its relation to the poem, as well as a few questions for debate in class:

Question 1: How to understand the word “waste” in the whole context of the poem? Could it be the description of a worthless/ valueless land, where the ‘waste’ are its peoples and their thoughts? ‘Waste’ as in land of those who do not know; who are useless, dispensable? 

Question 2: On “What the Thunder Said” what represents the ‘Thunder’ to which all other deities (like Ganga and Himavant) and all Creation submit to? And why when it (singular) speaks, it refers to itself as ‘we’ (plural)?

Question 3: Can we find traces of transcendentalism in this part of the poem?

Question 4: The ending of the poem is also the end of a journey through the seas. Can you debate this in light of the modernist thought of “Life as a journey”? Is there a link it to the cyclic perspective of the whole poem?

Question 5: Can you ponder on what kind of reactions is the author aiming to provoke on his readers? 

This is most certainly one of the hardest poem that we’ve ever had to tackle with, but we can assure you: once the “lights go on”, its a pleasure to read it!