Hello everyone, i am Dhruvita Dhameliya. Today i write blog on poem - The Waste land by T.S.Eliot as part of thinking activity given by our professor Dilip Barad sir.
First of all i would like to give introduction of T.S. Eliot and in which century he belong.
T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot, the 1948 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is one of the giants of modern literature, highly distinguished as a poet, literary critic, dramatist, and editor and publisher. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.
The publication of Four Quartets led to his recognition as the greatest living English poet and man of letters, and in 1948 he was awarded both the Order of Merit and the Nobel Prize for Literature.
I would like to give Brief introduction of the poem The Waste land,
The Waste land is the most famous poem of the 20th century. When it appeared at the beginning of the 1920's it exerted an immediate and powerful impact on the consciousness of the post - world war -1 generation.
The waste land is the most important and the greatest achievement of T.S.Eliot. it symbolised the Modern civilization which is compared to a 'Waste land'. The poem contains 433 lines and it has five parts.
The waste land can be read as a sequence of poems. Each with a different speaker, setting, diction and rhythm. The individual poems are of various length and grouped under five headings :
1) The burial of the dead
2) A game of chess
3) The fire sermon
4) Death by water
5) What the Thunder said
One may have question that what is Waste land - The Waste Land is a city inhabited by a civilization suffering from spiritual decay and degeneration. The poem opens with a picture of the world after World War I, a picture depicting the frustration and failure of modern society.
So let's understand one by one all the poem :-
1) The burial of the dead :-
The first part of the poem open with the line ' April is the cruellest month' but for the Western people April is good month but Eliot break the image of April by telling it is cruel month. As title itself suggest that burial of the Dead means spiritual death and decadence of western people as April is like spring for them which took new birth of flowers but This flowers imply re- birth which requires some efforts on their path. But as condition and mentality of west landers they don't want to do efforts. Then narrator introduce one lady name Marie - symbolised rootlessness and recalled childhood memories of her,
Marie says: "I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania; Lama real German."
Then Third scene of landscape is opened and then reference of myth about 'Triston and Isolde' and another one is about ' Hyacinth'. Then suddenly one other character introduce 'Madam Sesotries' then he talked about some unreal city and then first part complete.
2) A game of chess :-
When we read 'chess' we got Idea that it is game and for this game one need to knowledge and rational thinking. First scene open with the room in which all Beauty products are set up. Then there is refrence of Cleaopatra , Sad light , Dolphin, women carving and Culidon. This all are symbol of sexual perversion and loss of spirituality. In this part There has myth of Philomel &procne reference to Nightingale. This part end with the scene of two women who cheating their husband who is in war and fight to save their nation.
3) The fire sermon :-
The longest part of the poem which start with the reference of Buddha's sermon of living life - "whatever we achieve through our instinct this all are allusion". In this section we come to know name of narrator whose name is Tiresias who is blind and Then there is reference of Thames river and river is always symbol of purity and worship it but now that place also became filthy. Then narrator suddenly talked about fisher king who also suffering from one illness who did crime in his past. Then there is reference of parcifal and Elizabeth then there is line like ,
Burning burning burning burning
O Lord Thou pluckest me out
O Lord thou pluckest
Eliot alludes to the Buddha's "Fire Sermon," which describes the burning of passion, attachment, and suffering. Whole London , England and Europe burning with lust, every house and people of the house burning with lust and spiritually.
4) Death by Water :-
In this part we became aware about one more character name - phlebas. Water is symbol of life giving- regeneration but here water used for death because here water is of sea not river and it's symbolised death. Phlebas who is good sailer met an accident and died. This part is shortest part in this poem.
5) What the Thunder said :-
The moral of the section is contained in the message proclaimed by thunder for the liberation of society from spiritual barrenness. There is a need of effort for the realisation of the spiritual goal. The first example is of the mythical journey of the knight to Chapel Perilous in the time of Fisher King who was successful in removing the curse from his land. The second is the Biblical journey of Christ's disciples to Emmaus when they were accompanied by Christ in disguise and who disclosed his identity to confirm the truth of his resurrection. In contrast to the two journeys mentioned above, we have the march of uprooted humanity driven by war and by communist revolution to no particular destination and to no peace in the end. Then there is reference of three 'Da' referred to Hindu fable and for everybody meaning of 'Da' is different.
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?
According to me both are right in their own belief because both wanted solution somehow. But i would like go with T.S.Eliot who is try to find solution from past and for this he gave many examples in this poem 'The waste land'. But i would like go with the Idea of Netzithche because as we know that problems are repeated but solutions are different everytime. And as we know that ' change is the rule of world' so we have to think differently according to time for example now world became digital World so people have to think accordingly and find solution from it. And Nietzsche also talked about to be moral and problem oriented. If you connect problems with religion then there is no progress in the world. We have to think morally and live individual life. According to our own morality because if people became moral then there is more chances of progress.
As he says we have to became overman and accept everything and move on because this all things are part of life
But as Friedrich told that Eliot became regressive that is not true because he became problem oriented and tried to find solution from past and give many myths to solve the problems of that time there was same issues which we feel today also like :-
1) sexual perversion - Rape
2) loss of spirituality
3) Depression - mental illness
4) war - political issues
Let's try to understood this all thing with reference of poem and myth discussed by Eliot.
1) Sexual perversion :-
Sexual perversion is the main theme of the poem and Eliot discussed this things with many examples there is Triston and Isolde's myth who love each other but their love is out of marriage and they has tragic end. Myth of Hyacinth and Apolo - God of love. According to Eliot love which is out of marriage also called sexual perversion. There is myth of Philomel and Procne two sister's myth and Eliot state that,
' whatever happened still happening'
So here we find that Friedrich Nietzsche's view is better because if there is solution then things must be nor repeated but it is still happening so we have to become problem oriented better than looking for history and myths. He also give - Buddha's sermon and told that ,
Burning burning burning burning
O Lord Thou pluckest me out
O Lord thou pluckest
Everything is burning from the sexual perversion and noone escape from this until they follow fire sermon.
2) Loss of spirituality :-
In this poem Eliot give many such example in which he talked about lack of spirituality and religious people relate it with the problems of their life. Eliot also believe that whatever is happening is the result of spiritual loss and he gave many examples of it. There is image a heap of broken glasses which represents the lake of spirituality. There is Madam Sesotries who show future of person which also represents the spiritual degradation. Eliot also believer of Church and we can see that he gave many examples related to church and his mostly character's myth also connected with this. But Eliot also give Idea about Christan, Indian upnishad and Buddha's sermon. And also give solution of this, which is discussed in Buddha's sermon and Indian upnishad.
But in today's time people became more practical we can say that they lost their feelings and fear of God. Authority also started doing crime so we can not blame people and society because religious authority also lost their spirituality and belief due to money and they don't have control on their instinct.
3) Depression - Identity crises :-
In today's time main problem of people is Identity crises and this thing we found in rich people and authorised people a lot because they don't have time for themselves and this thing we found in the second part of the poem - A game of chess in which we found that wife of rich people cheat their husbands who are fighting for their safety another scene where room of lady where all Beauty products are set which provoking to the man towards sexual desire. There is another reference of Elizabeth who using the man for stay in power. There Eliot used the line like ,
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
In today's time we can connect this thing with the high standard society and television industry too. They also suffering from this thing noone is loyal in the relationship and then crisises started and it's end with the end of person or life. We found many examples of this around us.
4)War - political issues :-
When we read poem it's difficult to connect thinga with the myth but after the reading we got Idea about it. Otherwise we also connect this thing with war to because people fight when they lost their spirituality and Identity. Because Politics and war became burning issues of today's time and This poem also written just after the world war. There isn't any direct reference of war but all myth and conditions of people give Idea of this.
So i would like go with the idea of T.S. Eliot who tries to find solution from myth and History.
2) Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström 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'?
In this Freud talked about if people get freedom to live life in their own way then there is possibility to control instinct and people satisfied with their life but it wasn't possible because everyone have their own Ideal and spirituality to live life if there isn't any rules and regulations then people might start doing whatever they wanted to do so Here i would like to go with the Eliot's point of view because if everyone started living life according to their lifestyle and desire then there might be crisis and problem started. Tradition and individual talent in this T.S. Eliot talked about the historical elements because people's roots are connected to their past and history so if people start learning from this then there is chance to be something to be change. As Eliot says that tradition play an important role because people get internal peace from their roots and morality. So Freud'a view also true but it wasn't possible so somehow Eliot's view better and applicable than Freud's view.
3) Write about allusions to the Indian thughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred to?)
In the poem The Waste land there are many indian myths like :-
1) The fire sermon :-
Fire - Sexual perversion
Third part of the poem is taken from Indian myth - Buddha's sermon in which Buddha talked about to control of instinct and everything which give pleasure to our instinct this all are allusion and people should control it. Then he talked about the reality of world that we have heaven and hell both depends on us that what we choose and we have to stay with both and keep on moving.
2)River Ganga and Himalaya :-
Eliot also referred the River of India and Himalaya as purification and peaceful place because when Eliot wrote this poem during that time India was an ideal place for spirituality and humanity but now India also become filthy. But Eliot referred Ganga as pure river and Himalaya as peaceful place in this lines :-
"Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant".
3) Three 'Da' :-
In the last part Eliot give message of Upnishad - Brihadaarnyak in which God of creation speak three - 'Da' but for everybody three 'Da' has different meaning.
God - Da - Damyata
Human - Da - Datta
Demon - Da - Dayadhvam
And told the meaning of three Da's meaning and told that everyone has to select Da according to their need and attitude and applied in life. Here Eliot use this to give message of morality to people.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti :-
Poem ends with the word "Shanti, Shanti, Shanti." Which is very much used phrase in sanskrit language. This three shanti is indicating the peace for what poet pinning In world of chaos, in world of anarchy.
4) Is it possible to read 'The Waste Land' as a Pandemic Poem?
Yes , we can read The waste land as a pandemic poem because as we know that when Eliot wrote this poem in 1922 during that time whole world suffering from flue and 500 million people became affected to Spanish flue but Eliot not talking about this but indirectly we can read whole poem as pandemic.
As Eliot jumping from one image to another incident, there is collage of many images and one can read it feverish dream.
Another incident when we are ill , we can't speak clearly and our tongue doesn't support and mouth became dry- disintegration language at the end of the - the fire sermon suggest that - it is body and mind which is burning. To get more idea of the waste land as pandemic poem watch this video :-
5) Give link of the goggle sheet with Tabular information on myths, Allusions, Language, animal/birds, colours etc.
Word count : 2422
it helped me a lot.
ReplyDelete