Romanticism And Symbolism In The Waste Land By T. S. Eliot

The symbolic literature is the earliest and most influential literary genre, it mainly focuses on poetry and drama. The symbolism uses vague insinuations to replace precise statements, and the subtle words would awaken emotions. The symbolism pursues a rich spiritual world in the reality. Thus, it can be says that if a literary work is lacking symbolism, then this work is not perfect. T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is a milestone in modern British and American poetry. This poetry is the most representative work in symbolic literature and it is Eliot's most famous work. The Waste Land is dividing into five sections. It has more than 400 lines, the longer poems uses “Holy Grail” and “Fisher King” as basic framework. Also the mythology and anthropology provides a complete set of symbolic language to the poet. The poet has made a point of using the story of "Holy Grail" to show a despicable and miserable human hell. The work reveals a picture of the barren wasteland, the grey city, the gloomy prison and the intoxicate people to the readers. In this absurd world there is no idolatry and code of conduct, only the existence of empty life

Eliot is full of symbolism. This poem is different from the narrative poem of realism and the lyric poem of romanticism, but it is typical of symbolic poetry. The poem overall involves in some ancient mythology and shows the modern wasteland and people. The "Waste Land" is the symbol of the modern Europe, but also the symbol of modern people. Water is the oasis of life, but also the symbol of disaster. The hyacinth is a symbol of spring, and skeletons are a symbol of death, etc. The poet is good at using symbolism to put a series of disparate "pictures" together, combining many irrelevant images to form a subjective emotion. These five poems not only hint at the inevitable declining trend of western civilization and reflect the historical perspective, but also it has the realistic