How Mortal Life Heightens the Appreciation of Life in Eliot and Maddy

How Mortal Life Heightens the Appreciation of Life in Eliot and Maddy

Mortal loss and the appreciation for life are very important concepts in writing. Both T.S. Eliot and Yulisa Amadu Maddy use this concept very heavily in their writing styles. T. S. Eliot’s major theme in The Waste Land surrounds death and World War One. The title The Waste Land, gives the reader a feeling of being lost in a world of waste and hopeless causes. The first part of the poem, The Waste Land, is titled, "The Burial of the Dead." This negative title gives the reader a sense of gloom and death. The title is very indicative of what is to come later on in the poem. The novel, No Past No Present No Future, by Yulisa Amadu Maddy is very dark and its title gives the audience a sense of hopelessness and no sense of direction. The reader feels that if he or she is not in the past, present, or future, then where is he or she in the circle of life? The beginnings of both pieces of literature give the reader a feeling of being lost and being depressed. Both works, The Waste Land and No Past No Present No Future, deal with death and mortal loss, and both authors, Eliot and Maddy use death to show the audience how important life is.

In the first couple of lines in The Waste Land Eliot says, "April is the cruellest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land," (lines 1-2). Breeding Lilacs gives a sense of hope for life, but at the same time, attached to April and its dead land, we are returned to the aspect of death. T.S. Eliot later in the poem states he "will show you fear in a handful of dust," which is a sign of human mortality, and Eliot describes in his poem the appreciation for life because of the threat of mortal loss. Eliot talks about how "the dead tree gives no shelter"(l.23). Without life we have no shelter and no water or the necessities in nature. The examples of the dead and their inadequacy of shelter and water, gives the readers an understanding of what is needed to live. A living being must have shelter and water, and an example without it heightens the appreciation of life. Eliot goes on to talk about the brown fog of London and how all of the people are hanging their heads looking at their feet.