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Assignment of allusions and symbols used in “ The wasteland “
Name : Makwana Daksha D.
Course : M.A
Sem : 3 Roll no : 5
Enrollment no : 2069108420180034
Paper 9 : The modernist Literature
Topic : The Wasteland : Allusions and Symbols
Submitted to : Department of English MKBU
Makwnadaksha9@gmail.com
Introduction :
T.S. Eliot – Thomas Stearns Eliot was an essayist , publisher , playwright , literary and social critic , and one of the twentieth century’s major poets . his best known poems are masterpiece of the modernist movement. For his lifetime of poetic innovation , Eliot won the order of merit and the noble prize in literature in 1948 .
The wasteland regarded as one of the most important poems of 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922 . the poem divided into five sections . this poem deals with themes like disillusionment and despair, experientiality , philosophical meditation , imagery of death and judgement.
1. The Burial of the Dead
2. A Game of Chess
3. The Fire sermon
4. Death by Water
5. What the thunder said
Allusions and symbols in the poem :
Symbolism as very powerful literary technique used in the poem . Symbolism used to signify certain ideas and meaning , it signifies the symbolic meaning different from their literal sense . any action , event , things and characters are used for symbolism . symbolic value brought entire new and deep meaning.
The fisher king : The fisher king is the central character in the wasteland . Eliot saw the fisher king as symbolic of humanity . robbed of its sexual potency in the modern world. This myth connected with spiritual sterility. The sick fisher king , his impotency , and his waste barren land symbolizes , the sick soul and the desolation of the material life.
Tiresias : Tiresias was blind and has a gift of prophecy and immortality. he was spiritually embittered , old and impotent. He was wandering about in great quest , stands for modern man in quest of true spiritual light and viable moral values. As a protagonist , ‘ the wasteland is his stream of consciousness and embittered conscience of human civilization. He connects link past and present. He is the conscience of humanity and deploring its spiritual degeneration in the modern world.
Madam Sosostris : Eliot transforms the traditional tarot pack to serve his purposes. Madam Sosostris will prove to be right in her predictions of death and transformation is a direct commentary on the failed religious mysticism and prophecy.
Buddha : Buddha encourages his followers to give up earthly passion . he preached for non violence , peace and spirituality. In “ the fire sermon “ encourages the individual to liberate from suffering through detachment from the five senses and the conscious mind.
The Holy Grail : The holy grail is associated with the king of Arthur and his knights of the round table. Grail was connected with the fertility myth, as it witnessed by its sexual symbols but later on it suffered a sea -change through its association with Christ.
Phlebas is a sailor who dies by drowning. Phlebas is an example of a lack of spirituality , self ego. His death represent the spiritual death.
Eliot used myths to comment on the modern world or to describe modern cultural emptiness within the context of ancient myths of a heroic quest that gives meaning to life.
City : Eliot ‘s London references , unreal city . the city is desolate and depopulated , inhabited only by ghosts from the past. cities are destroying and rebuilding that reflects cyclical downfall of cultures. Jerusalem , Greece , Egypt and Austria and their – among the major empires of the past two millennia – all see their capitals fall. On the London bridge living dead people.
In ‘ The Burial of dead ‘ image of stone , sun beats , dead tree ,not sound of crickets , not even sound of dropping water. All symbolizes spirituality that death is only a solution.
In ‘ A game of chess ‘ meaninglessness of routine life, we exciting for something new. It shows from past to present same repetition of things of manners , of life, of relation and nature.
In ‘ The fire sermon ‘ idea of moksha , philosophical spiritual ideas . ‘ rat ‘ as symbol of filthy and sordidness. The sounds of horns and motors , symbol of citylife , emptiness of wastelanders.
In ‘ death by water ‘ death brings destruction .
In ‘ what the thunder said ‘ about message that hope for the inhabitants of the modern desolate land. Spiritual regeneration is possible, hunger of peace is necessary.
River : river as a the mother of civilization , symbolizes the flow continuity of life . it also symbolize the destruction. ‘ Thames river ‘ . the once beautiful river is now polluted with ‘ empty bottles , papers , boxes and wastage.’ In poem reference of Ganga.
Water : in the wasteland water symbolizes life and death . water also have quality of regeneration , and possibility of restoring life and fertility. Water is one of the main theme of the wasteland .the wasteland is barren without water ,but is can also bring drawing and death. In the case of phlebas the sailor from the wasteland.
“ Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy roads.”
Seasons : “ April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land , mixing
Memory and desire , stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
April is not the happy month of pilgrimages and storytelling. It is instead the time when the land should be regenerating after long winter. Regeneration , though , is painful , it brings back reminder of a more fertile and happiest past. In the modern world , winter is time of forgetfulness and numbness.
Eliot also used animal world for his poetic process . uses rat , bits and pieces to sustain poetic life. That is related with most coherent but vulgar existence of the contemporary world. Eliot uses drought as symbol of death. To heighten the anxiety of waiting for rain, thunder is “ sterile “ , thus for hope of rain , of good thing landscape used by him.
Characters : the tarot card characters , sailor , the hanged man , biblical references all serve to touch upon symbolic value. The two women in the second section represent two sides of modern sexuality. One side is dry , barren the other side is rampant fecundity showing a lack of culture. Cleopatra , Dido , Lomia and philomela are reffered in the poem.
Music and singing : in the poem Eliot used music for presenting high and low culture. That high culture was in decline with rise of popular culture. Eliot uses lyrics as a kind of chorus , seconding and echoing the action of the poem.
In ' Waste land ' Eliot used mythical techniques and different way of analysis of tradition. .the meditations upon the Upanishads give a chance to test the potential of the modern world.
In ' What the thunder said ' from " Prajapati Upanishad " Eliot shows the way of re - birth on the basis of wisdom of India .
There is also reference of holy river of India , mythically and spiritual connected to India.
" Ganga was sunken , and the limb leaves waited for rain.
While the back clouds gathered far distant , over Himavant. "
Datta - Sacrifice , noble deeds or noble cause " Karna and Bhamasha "
Dayadhvam - Sympathize or live into others , emphasize yourself with sorrows and suffering of others . Not self ego and pride.
Damayata - control over one's passion and desire . On voyage of life , control the passion
The last line " Shantih , Shantih , Shantih " suggest " the peace which passeth all understanding " this word used in most of Indian Vedas and Upanishad . it is an acknowledgement of salvation.
Conclusion :
Eliot used natural objects as river , landscape , water , season and religion , characters like king , queen and common men as a symbolic reference
Eliot uses symbols and allusions to express the idea of rottenness of british civilization, interlinking of sexual perversion, spiritual death and theme of ‘ life in death and death in life ‘ . ecocentric characteristics of modern age presented by eliot.
Assignment of allusions and symbols used in “ The wasteland “
Name : Makwana Daksha D.
Course : M.A
Sem : 3 Roll no : 5
Enrollment no : 2069108420180034
Paper 9 : The modernist Literature
Topic : The Wasteland : Allusions and Symbols
Submitted to : Department of English MKBU
Makwnadaksha9@gmail.com
Introduction :
T.S. Eliot – Thomas Stearns Eliot was an essayist , publisher , playwright , literary and social critic , and one of the twentieth century’s major poets . his best known poems are masterpiece of the modernist movement. For his lifetime of poetic innovation , Eliot won the order of merit and the noble prize in literature in 1948 .
The wasteland regarded as one of the most important poems of 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922 . the poem divided into five sections . this poem deals with themes like disillusionment and despair, experientiality , philosophical meditation , imagery of death and judgement.
1. The Burial of the Dead
2. A Game of Chess
3. The Fire sermon
4. Death by Water
5. What the thunder said
Allusions and symbols in the poem :
Symbolism as very powerful literary technique used in the poem . Symbolism used to signify certain ideas and meaning , it signifies the symbolic meaning different from their literal sense . any action , event , things and characters are used for symbolism . symbolic value brought entire new and deep meaning.
The fisher king : The fisher king is the central character in the wasteland . Eliot saw the fisher king as symbolic of humanity . robbed of its sexual potency in the modern world. This myth connected with spiritual sterility. The sick fisher king , his impotency , and his waste barren land symbolizes , the sick soul and the desolation of the material life.
Tiresias : Tiresias was blind and has a gift of prophecy and immortality. he was spiritually embittered , old and impotent. He was wandering about in great quest , stands for modern man in quest of true spiritual light and viable moral values. As a protagonist , ‘ the wasteland is his stream of consciousness and embittered conscience of human civilization. He connects link past and present. He is the conscience of humanity and deploring its spiritual degeneration in the modern world.
Madam Sosostris : Eliot transforms the traditional tarot pack to serve his purposes. Madam Sosostris will prove to be right in her predictions of death and transformation is a direct commentary on the failed religious mysticism and prophecy.
Buddha : Buddha encourages his followers to give up earthly passion . he preached for non violence , peace and spirituality. In “ the fire sermon “ encourages the individual to liberate from suffering through detachment from the five senses and the conscious mind.
The Holy Grail : The holy grail is associated with the king of Arthur and his knights of the round table. Grail was connected with the fertility myth, as it witnessed by its sexual symbols but later on it suffered a sea -change through its association with Christ.
Phlebas is a sailor who dies by drowning. Phlebas is an example of a lack of spirituality , self ego. His death represent the spiritual death.
Eliot used myths to comment on the modern world or to describe modern cultural emptiness within the context of ancient myths of a heroic quest that gives meaning to life.
City : Eliot ‘s London references , unreal city . the city is desolate and depopulated , inhabited only by ghosts from the past. cities are destroying and rebuilding that reflects cyclical downfall of cultures. Jerusalem , Greece , Egypt and Austria and their – among the major empires of the past two millennia – all see their capitals fall. On the London bridge living dead people.
In ‘ The Burial of dead ‘ image of stone , sun beats , dead tree ,not sound of crickets , not even sound of dropping water. All symbolizes spirituality that death is only a solution.
In ‘ A game of chess ‘ meaninglessness of routine life, we exciting for something new. It shows from past to present same repetition of things of manners , of life, of relation and nature.
In ‘ The fire sermon ‘ idea of moksha , philosophical spiritual ideas . ‘ rat ‘ as symbol of filthy and sordidness. The sounds of horns and motors , symbol of citylife , emptiness of wastelanders.
In ‘ death by water ‘ death brings destruction .
In ‘ what the thunder said ‘ about message that hope for the inhabitants of the modern desolate land. Spiritual regeneration is possible, hunger of peace is necessary.
River : river as a the mother of civilization , symbolizes the flow continuity of life . it also symbolize the destruction. ‘ Thames river ‘ . the once beautiful river is now polluted with ‘ empty bottles , papers , boxes and wastage.’ In poem reference of Ganga.
Water : in the wasteland water symbolizes life and death . water also have quality of regeneration , and possibility of restoring life and fertility. Water is one of the main theme of the wasteland .the wasteland is barren without water ,but is can also bring drawing and death. In the case of phlebas the sailor from the wasteland.
“ Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy roads.”
Seasons : “ April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land , mixing
Memory and desire , stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”
April is not the happy month of pilgrimages and storytelling. It is instead the time when the land should be regenerating after long winter. Regeneration , though , is painful , it brings back reminder of a more fertile and happiest past. In the modern world , winter is time of forgetfulness and numbness.
Eliot also used animal world for his poetic process . uses rat , bits and pieces to sustain poetic life. That is related with most coherent but vulgar existence of the contemporary world. Eliot uses drought as symbol of death. To heighten the anxiety of waiting for rain, thunder is “ sterile “ , thus for hope of rain , of good thing landscape used by him.
Characters : the tarot card characters , sailor , the hanged man , biblical references all serve to touch upon symbolic value. The two women in the second section represent two sides of modern sexuality. One side is dry , barren the other side is rampant fecundity showing a lack of culture. Cleopatra , Dido , Lomia and philomela are reffered in the poem.
Music and singing : in the poem Eliot used music for presenting high and low culture. That high culture was in decline with rise of popular culture. Eliot uses lyrics as a kind of chorus , seconding and echoing the action of the poem.
In ' Waste land ' Eliot used mythical techniques and different way of analysis of tradition. .the meditations upon the Upanishads give a chance to test the potential of the modern world.
In ' What the thunder said ' from " Prajapati Upanishad " Eliot shows the way of re - birth on the basis of wisdom of India .
There is also reference of holy river of India , mythically and spiritual connected to India.
" Ganga was sunken , and the limb leaves waited for rain.
While the back clouds gathered far distant , over Himavant. "
Datta - Sacrifice , noble deeds or noble cause " Karna and Bhamasha "
Dayadhvam - Sympathize or live into others , emphasize yourself with sorrows and suffering of others . Not self ego and pride.
Damayata - control over one's passion and desire . On voyage of life , control the passion
The last line " Shantih , Shantih , Shantih " suggest " the peace which passeth all understanding " this word used in most of Indian Vedas and Upanishad . it is an acknowledgement of salvation.
Conclusion :
Eliot used natural objects as river , landscape , water , season and religion , characters like king , queen and common men as a symbolic reference
Eliot uses symbols and allusions to express the idea of rottenness of british civilization, interlinking of sexual perversion, spiritual death and theme of ‘ life in death and death in life ‘ . ecocentric characteristics of modern age presented by eliot.
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