The Waste Land

                       T.S Eliot 

T.S Eliot is very famous and interesting poet in the English literature. Thomas Stearns Eliot   born in 26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965, "one of the twentieth century's major poets", was also an essayist, publisher, playwright, and literary and social critic. Born in St. Louis Missouri to a prominent Boston Brahman family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and would settle, work, and marry there. He became a British Subject  in 1927 at the age of 39, subsequently renouncing his American passport.

     About 'The Waste land' 

 

     Eliot politely insisted that the title was three words beginning with "The". In the modern time style of epic writing is very famous. Epic is very famous this time. This time T.S. Eliot  writes very big a nd long Epic The Waste Land. The waste land is very long Epic. The waste land is divided into five part. This all part are as follows : 

      After a fourth section, "Death by Water," which includes a brief lyrical petition, the end point fifth section, "What the Thunder Said," concludes with an image of judgment.

Thinking Activity 

1.What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzche's views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?

Eliot stands for Regressive, backward looking as it tries to find answers of contemporary malaise in Upanishad, Buddhism and Christianity.

On the other side Nietzche stands for progressive and forward looking, in giving solution to the problem of contemporary crises in faith and self.

Yes, I think Eliot view regressive to compare with Nietzsche view like progressive. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic and philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history. He 

gave the concept of Ubermensch .A person who seems superhuman, with astounding powers, can be called an Ubermensch. While T.S Eliot is regressive  compared to Nietzsche he tries to find answer in different ways to overcome from all problems .T.S Eliot talks to look backward into the past because any how past is connected with the present time. " The Wasteland " by T. S Eliot is also trying to compare the myth or past incidents with the contemporary time's issues. He gave different myths in The Waste land.

2.Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellstrom of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

My views are neutral on both statements one given by Freud and another given by T.S Eliot 

Freud talks about individuality and tells about

Primitive instinct where as Eliot talks about 

the person who wants to save themselves from evil or sin have to preserve the culture and traditions . Eliot views are also true because it helps to stop chaos in society and one live can  peacefully. And on other side Freud statement is also true because individuals thinking is also necessary. 

3.Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. 

1.Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves Waited for rain, while the black clouds Gathered far distant, over Himavant. The jungle crouched, humped in silence. Then spoke the thunder"

There is reference of Ganga which is Indian holy river and also himavant which means perhaps Himalaya. And also Indian

 mythology is used here. 

2.Fire Sermon 

The concept of Fire Sermon is taken from Adittapariyaya Sutta, a sacred book of Buddhism. In which Buddha preaches a sermon called The Fire Sermon. Giving up the world and leading a holy life" or "freedom from lust, craving and desires." For which particular word Detachment is used. 

To Carthage then I came

Burning burning burning burning

O Lord Thou pluckest me out

O Lord Thou pluckest

burning

So, The word burning pointed out detachment from all the so called human desire. 

What the Thunder Said

"Datta, Dayadhvam and Damyata,

Shantih, Shantih, Shantih."

First Da for Datta ,Second Da for Damyta Third Da for Dayadhavam ,Which means Giver, Compassion, Self-Control .

Shantih is repeated three times for  getting freedom from all disturbance. Thus Eliot ends poem 'The Wasteland' with hope.

4) Is it possible to read 'The Waste Land' as a Pandemic Poem.

Yes it is possible T.S. Eliot in his poem, The Waste Land. Eliot wrote it in the aftermath of the Spanish Flu and the first world war between 1918 and 1920.It was published in 1922 three years after World War One, The Waste Land records the horror of the aftermath. Composed of five parts and a total of 433 lines.

 The poem weaves in various myths and allusions to depict intense emotions, highlighting the consciousness of the alienated human mind. There are several lines in the poem that resonate today, one hundred years later.

Eliot could have meant by describing April, the beginning of spring in most of the western hemisphere, as the cruelest month; and realized for the first time that he was referring to hope and disappointment. Hope could hurt and the advent of spring could hurt by not getting realized. T. S. Eliot and his wife, Vivien caught the virus in December 1918. Eliot’s attack was comparatively mild, though in a letter to his mother on December 8, 1918, he writes that it left him “so very weak afterwards.” Vivien then caught it and was much sicker; the virus, Eliot wrote, “affected her nerves so that she can hardly sleep at all.

”Globally, the pandemic killed between 50 and 100 million people, and the United States suffered more deaths in the pandemic than in World War I, World War II. The pandemic changed public life closing schools, and businesses and filling the hospitals as the coronavirus is doing now.

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/cafe/rediscovering-the-waste-land-a-century-after-eliot-caught-the-spanish-flu

https://readdurhamenglish.wordpress.com/2021/11/04/why-the-many-voices-of-t-s-eliots-the-waste-land-speak-to-us-after-the-pandemic/