Identifying with the Waste Land

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Recommended: Understanding T.S. Eliot's work

T.S Eliot’s The Waste Land frustrates the reader with a complexity so dense that he or she feels lost. This frustration arises out of the poem’s fragmented structure of the characters, place, and time which gives the reader an insight into the civilization following World War I and the authors’ chaotic state of mind. He shows how modern life appears to be fragmented and disordered through the shifting images, points of view and alternating periods of time. T.S Eliot uses allusions to myths, history, and literature to lead us out of the confining present moment and ego to transcend into a self that is free and in harmony with others and nature.

T.S Eliot suggests myths throughout The Waste Land to let the reader indirectly recognize the viewpoint from outside of time and eventually find a way out that will lead to happiness. The author uses myths such as the Fisher King and the Grail Quest to associate the impulse to search, discover, and seek change for the sake of self-knowledge. Fisher King focuses on the ancient fertility rituals. After the King was wounded, it was believed that he was responsible for his land to become “a wasteland”. As the legend says, if the King is healed, the land will flourish. In other words, the fertility of the land depends on the potency and virility of the King and can only be restored through sacrifice. Likewise, Eliot incorporates the Grail Quest to reinstate how a quest throughout the deserted land serves as purification. Perhaps the author uses these myths to portray how distorted and corrupted modern society is. He is relating these legends to the emptiness in modern culture to let the reader discover the true meaning of life. “Eliot points out the simple fact of this cultural emptiness and i...

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...ciety is corrupted, and the only way to revitalize is to become one with the world, and the self. The only way to restore order to the self and the world is to be reborn to our spirit. Finally, The Waste Land is a mirror image of the breakdown of a historical, social, and cultural order constantly depicted with violent scenes and death. Eliot expects the reader to participate in a quest of discovery through his myths, history and literature to allow us to escape the imprisoning present and ego to reveal meaning, truth, and virtue.

Works Cited

• (1) Free Waste Land Essays: Underlying Myths in The Waste Land." 123HelpMe.com.05Dec2010
• (2) "SparkNotes: Eliotâs Poetry: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .

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