The Waste Land Analysis

Submitted By Stargazer3
Words: 2197
Pages: 9
Open Document
Ryan Irwin
Mr. Schmidt
APIII, Period 3
8 April 2013
A Convoluted State of Affairs

In his seminal work The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot attempts to describe the social conditions and ramifications of the post World War I human psyche. The poem is partly a self-reflection of Eliot’s own mental issues and emotional family situation in addition to his commentary on the downward spiral of society around him. Eliot employs a change in speaker amongst many different characters as well as allusions to other relevant and popular art, literature, and events of the day that preceded this poem. The Waste Land is essentially a cacophony of allusions and stances. While writing this poem, Eliot had entered a sanitarium as a result of several nervous breakdowns triggered by the ills of society that he condemns in this work (Bush 68). In addition to his mental health issues, Eliot was in the midst of his own journey toward Christianity, which is apparent in the poem’s themes of death and re-birth. The poem parallels Eliot’s brief recovery from his illness and his new spirituality in that the first part of the poem contrasts with the second part, the early anxiety and fear turn into relief from intolerable burdens. The poem flows from a stream of consciousness on the part of the poet, referencing important psychological and psychoanalytical themes, especially those of Sigmund Freud, such as primary desire, forbidden love, re-birth, and renewal. It may be Eliot’s own issue of mental illness reflected in this stream of consciousness that has rendered the poem to be over-interpreted for the past century. An appreciation of the poem lies in knowing that the poet wrote literally what was on his mind in his tormented and emotional state.
The main allusion connects to Jessie Weston’s From Ritual to Romance, where the land has been blighted by a curse and the Fisher King is rendered both physically and spiritually impotent (Brooks 59). The theme of psychological devastation and lack of personal character define each of the five parts of the poem. Each part appears to be framed as its own short poem with its respective illustrative characters, allusions, diction, syntax, and metaphors. Several contrasts are brought forth in the many comparisons of society versus the individual, man vs. woman, unconscious and conscious, and hope and fear. Eliot literally uses foreign languages and altered tones to invoke a feeling of confusion and despair in the reader. There are quotations, fragments, pieces of conversations, and broken images. These literary devices parallel the poem’s overriding premise of trying to achieve or find something meaningful in life, but not quite being able to achieve success in doing so even by the end of the poem. It is this incoherence and the broken imagery that lend themselves to the creativeness of the poem. In fact, Ward claims that the poem is “an indictment of the sterility and muddle of the contemporary world” (68).
The most prominent theme and the one first introduced in The Waste Land are emptiness from social and emotional isolation. “The Burial of the Dead” introduces the theme of death, dying, and emptiness with its evocative words of “dead land,” “dull roots,” and “dried tubers.” (Eliot 2615). Crowds of people are seen in the city streets flowing over the London Bridge. The city is dark and filled with despair and guilt, a reference to Dante’s Inferno. The people have meaningless lives, are oppressed by death, and do not find relief in happy memories, such as Marie and the sled or the promise of religious salvation. John Vickery claims that this first section of the poem, “links mankind more closely to its god whose demise is mourned,” further emphasizing Eliot’s position that society is in decline even with the promise of salvation (28). There is stability in death anxiety about change. The representation of Easter, the use of the color violet and new life during the month of April is important because after
Show More

Related Documents: The Waste Land Analysis

research paper

Research Paper 1 How safe are the government facilities? Rebecca Leon Empire State University Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Diane Delucia April 01, 2015 Research Paper 2 On March 9th 2015 an email was sent out to every Army…

Words 1122 - Pages 5

IT Research Paper

Research Paper MELKIA WATERS Mwaters17@capellauniversity.edu IT3006 PROF. JULIA KRUMMEN Nov. 10, 2013 Identifying Improved Methodology to Procure HIT Software Benefits Users Introduction Researchers conducted a study conducted at The University of Utah Healthcare system (comprising of 3 major hospitals) on the usability of their health information technology (HIT) software. Evaluators found 60 usability problems and 233 heuristic violations (Guo et al., 2011). Heuristic is defined by Oxford Dictionaries…

Words 1892 - Pages 8

Research Paper

25099373 CNF15_3 Research Methods Research Proposal Word Count: 1210 A look into the Memory Retention: Can stimulants increase a person’s memory? A quantitative research proposal. For this research proposal, memory will be looked into to see whether a person’s memory can be increased via the intake of stimulants. This quantitative research will then look into whether there are any future benefits in consuming stimulants if memory is found to be increased. There is already research similar in nature…

Words 1359 - Pages 6

Research Paper

Research papers are a common type of paper for students to write, especially when they are attending college. These papers require students to perform research, such as utilizing primary and secondary sources to draw new conclusions. For students who have not written this type of paper before, it may seem daunting. There are many free sample research papers online for those who want to see how to structure their paper and other details.Diane Hacker, an author who writes manuals for students writing…

Words 307 - Pages 2

Research Paper

Research Paper EDUC 600 Pamela Noble Dr. Albright Liberty University Abstract Billions of dollars are spent every year on psychologist, psychiatrist, and counselors only to discover that one of the key elements missing in their child is resiliency. Resiliency for the purpose of this study is defined as the appropriate personality such as strength and positive adaptation that help a person or family cope with stress or life difficulties, increasing the likelihood of…

Words 514 - Pages 3

Research Paper

Research Paper How does an imposed requirement of regularly identifying exposure to operational risk benefit an insurance company? Executive Summary The topic of this research paper is how an imposed requirement of regularly identifying exposure to operational risk benefits an insurance company. Risks occur naturally in all business, but if risk is not controlled, there are plenty of consequences that can arise. Insurance companies deal with risk everyday, ranging from fraud, car theft, health…

Words 2609 - Pages 11

Research Paper

Comparison of the Sciences SSC101 Research Assignment Module 7 Saint Leo University December 08, 2012 The three social sciences below are defined as according to the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary. www.merriam-webster.com Anthropology 1: the science of human beings; especially : the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture 2: theology dealing with the origin,…

Words 2578 - Pages 11

Research Paper

amount Americans drink today by three and you'll have an idea what much of the nineteenth century was like.” So how does someone become an alcoholic? This has to do with a combination of genetic, physiological, psychological and social factors. Research have discovered that children of alcoholics are four times more likely to become alcoholics themselves. Children of alcoholic parents are raised in the environment where drinking is okay and they tend to pick up the drinking habit from their parents…

Words 1766 - Pages 8

Research Paper

you commit yourself to. This way of thinking really reflects on the type of writing process I endure. While writing I really focus on how I want to identify myself, what questions I wish to discover, and how this idea might change me. To begin my paper I use an outline. On this outline at the top of the page I write my main topic that I wish to write about. After I have created the topic, I then write a list of ideas that relate to what I want to talk about. Out of the ten ideas I create I choose…

Words 2972 - Pages 12

Research paper

groups, sexual preferences, sex, size, etc. So to fathom being in a society where it is essentially a "free for all" towards being prejudice, or genuinely prejudice towards these types of groups is very hard to imagine. Prior to doing any definite research, I thought I had a pretty clear idea on how exactly equal opportunity could both benefit, and hurt today’s workplace. As I was reading “Advantages & Disadvantages of Equal Opportunity Employment” (Casey Reader) a short online article by Casey Reader…

Words 1332 - Pages 6