by T.S. Eliot
Synopsis
433 lines
20th Century
Meditation on the state of Western
civilization
mixes descriptions of contemporary life
with literary allusions and quotations,
religious symbolism, and references to
ancient and medieval cultures and
mythologies, vegetation and fertility rites
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Synopsis
Eastern religions and philosophies
emphasize themes of barrenness and
desolation and portrays a dying society
the ending suggests hope of
redemption through concepts and
images grounded on the synthesis of
Christian and Eastern
(Hindu/Buddhist) spirituality
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Structure
Epigraph
Five sections
The Burial of the Dead
A Game of Chess
The Fire Sermon
Death by Water
What the Thunder Said
Epigraph
"Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Sibulla ti qeleiz; respondebat illa: apoqanein
qelw."
For Ezra Pound
il miglior fabbro.
Quotes Petronius's Satyricon (first century C.E.)
For once I myself saw with my own eyes the
Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the
boys said to her Sibyl, what do you want? she
replied, I want to die.
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Line 19-42
Four poems
Line 43-59
Line 60-76
The speaker walks through a London populated by
ghosts of the dead. He confronts a figure with whom
he once fought in a battle. The speaker asks the
ghostly figure, Stetson, about the fate of a corpse
planted in his garden.
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Line 139-172
In a London barroom, where two women
discuss a third woman.
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Theme
source
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Analysis (1/2)
Eliot uses
A modern myth that world moving toward
crisis and chaos
Multiple narrators: to see from different
angles
Dramatic monologue: to convey the
characters stream of unconsciousness and
psychological condition.
Fragmentation: fragmentation of modern life,
lack of integration in the modern experience
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Analysis (2/2)
Techniques in Text
Epigraph
to express the subject
Sibyl in the Satyricon (myth) , a
woman with prophetic power and long
life, grows old, but cannot die. She is
yearning to die.
The Sibyl's condition suggests Eliot
lives in a culture that has decayed and
withered but will not end.
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Study Questions
1. What is the function of the epigraph
Study Questions
5. Why T.S. Eliot chose the A Game of
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References
Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta's World Literature Website. 1 Dec. 2005
<http://fajardo-acosta.com/worldlit/eliot/waste_land.htm>.
Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "The Waste Land." The Norton Anthology
of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 7th ed. Vol. 2. New
York: Norton, 2000. 2368-83.
Modernist Poetry in English. 4 Dec. 2005
<http://www.answers.com/topic/modernist-poetry-in-english>.
Parker, Rickard A. Exploring The Waste Land. 29 Sep. 2002. 5
Dec. 2005 <http://world.std.com/~raparker/exploring/
thewasteland/explore.html>.
SparkNotes: Eliots Poetry. 1 Dec. 2005
<http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/index.html>.
The Waste Land. 1 Dec. 2005 <http://www.geocities.com/
Athens/Olympus/5599/literature/wasteland.html>.
The Waste Land Interpretation. 5 Dec. 2005
<http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC040522/Poetryindexbyjosefina/was
telandindex.htm>.
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