Introduction
Waste land is a modern epic poem which is written by T.S.Eilot. in this poem Eliot connected pandamic of Spanish flu. At that time the spanish flu is affected many of literary texts.
About poet
Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.[2] Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.
About the poem:
The poem is divided into five sections. The first, "The Burial of the Dead", introduces the diverse themes of disillusionment and despair. The second, "A Game of Chess", employs alternating narrations, in which vignettes of several characters address those themes experientially. "The Fire Sermon", the third section, offers a philosophical meditation in relation to the imagery of death and views of self-denial in juxtaposition, influenced by Augustine of Hippo and Eastern religions. After a fourth section, "Death by Water", which includes a brief lyrical petition, the culminating fifth section, "What the Thunder Said", concludes with an image of judgement.
Burial of the dead
Eliot’s poem opens, famously, with a declaration that ‘April is the cruellest month’. This is because, we are told, flowers and plants grow – as you’d expect from springtime – but they grow ‘out of the dead land’. Few people would probably name April as the cruellest of the twelve months, so immediately Eliot’s poem, possibly recalling, and overturning, the opening line of Chaucer’s ‘General Prologue’ to The Canterbury Tales, is out to surprise us with the unexpected. The opening lines of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales depict the joyous abundance of fertility and new life at springtime, where Eliot seems to take the opposite view:
This surprise continues when we are told that it was winter, rather than spring or summer, that kept the speaker warm, because it covered up the dead land in snow, which made him (assuming rather tenuously that the speaker is male) forget the fact that it is a dead land – a waste land.
A Game Of Chess
This section takes its title from two plays by the early 17th-century playwright Thomas Middleton, in one of which the moves in a game of chess denote stages in a seduction. This section focuses on two opposing scenes, one of high society and one of the lower classes. The first half of the section portrays a wealthy, highly groomed woman surrounded by exquisite furnishings. As she waits for a lover, her neurotic thoughts become frantic, meaningless cries. Her day culminates with plans for an excursion and a game of chess. The second part of this section shifts to a London barroom, where two women discuss a third woman. Between the bartender’s repeated calls of “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME” (the bar is closing for the night) one of the women recounts a conversation with their friend Lil, whose husband has just been discharged from the army. She has chided Lil over her failure to get herself some false teeth, telling her that her husband will seek out the company of other women if she doesn’t improve her appearance. Lil claims that the cause of her ravaged looks is the medication she took to induce an abortion; having nearly died giving birth to her fifth child, she had refused to have another, but her husband “won’t leave [her] alone.” The women leave the bar to a chorus of “good night(s)” reminiscent of Ophelia’s farewell speech in Hamlet.
The fire cermon
Tiresias describes the scene on the river Thames in the autumn season. The river is now deserted. There are only vestages of summer parties, when rich businessmen held picnics on the river banks. The pollution of the river stands for spiritual degeneration of the modern man and his civilization. As the protagonist stands on the river bank, he hears the merry sounds of London crowds and the sounds of motor horns, calling girls to their lovers. London is an unreal city full of sexual perversion. The man of business and commerce Mr. Eugenides has come to London. He is interested in enjoying sex relationship in the hotel.
In the evening, when the typist girl comes home from the office, she waits for her lover. He comes after dinner and enjoys with the girl. The girl is indifferent but feels relieved after the sex act. It is the kind of animal-like sex which modern young men and women have.
Death by water:
The shortest section of the poem, “Death by Water” describes a man, Phlebas the Phoenician, who has died, apparently by drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as the creatures of the sea have picked his body apart. The narrator asks his reader to consider Phlebas and recall his or her own mortality.
What the Thunder said
The poem closes with the repetition of the three words the thunder said, which again mean: "Give, show compassion, and control yourself." These are Eliot's final words of advice to his audience, and it's advice he wants us to follow if we're going to have any hope of moving forward.
In this part here is a concept of brihad aranyaka upnishad
Da:Damayanta
When God ask to brahma and said that to teach them some good words brahma said DA God take this meaning like damayanta to staying controlled so say your mind to control your emotions as well as your anger also.
Da:Datta
When human ask to lord brahma to give some good words prajapati said the word DA then as per understanding of human being the take these words as to be a giver. Because humans are so greedy so as per their understanding DA means datta means to became a giver.
Da:dayadhavam
When a demons asked to brahma to say some words the prajapti gives same answer Da as per demons understanding it means that to be compassionate because demons are very cruel towards the all being keep nature with compassion.
Here it can be said that there is repetition of the word DA but meaning is not same it has diffrant meaning.
Conclusion
As to sum up it I seen that this poem has autobiographical elements, mythical technique and allusion is also there which create complexity to understand the poem.
No comments:
Post a Comment