Cook
1
Research Paper
T. S. Eliot
Robin Cook
World Lit II
Professor Wong
January 27, 1997
T. S. Eliot, perhaps one of the most
controversial poets of modern times, wrote what many critics consider the most
controversial poem of all, The Waste Land.
The Waste Land was written using a fragmented style. This is a style that is evident in all of
Eliot's writings. There are several
reasons for his using this approach, from a feeling of being isolated, to a
problem articulating thoughts (Bergonzi 18, Cuddy 13, Mack 1745, Martin 102).
What influenced Eliot the most in writing
poetry was a book he read written by the English critic, Arthur Symon, titled
The Symbolist Movement in Literature.
This book is about French symbolist writers of the 19th century. From this book, the author who had the
greatest influence on Eliot is by far
Jules Laforgue. Laforgue's
influence is evident in many of Eliot's poems, sometimes to the point of
plagiarism. Like Laforgue, Eliot uses
dialogue between men and women that doesn't seem to communicate a thing. Other author's had an influence on Eliot as
well, like Henry James and Joseph Conrad.
All of these poet's had the common themes of estrangement from people
and the world, isolationism, and the feeling that they were failing to
articulate their thoughts (Bergonzi 7, 50, Cuddy 30, Mack 1743, Martin 41,
Unger 8) .
Henry James
influence on Eliot's poetry is evident in the Jamesian qualities he uses. For example, the opening verse of The Waste Land ends with the Jamesian note, "I
Cook
2
read, much of the
night, and go south in the winter" (Mack, 1751). Although Lafourge, Conrad, and James were
used as sources for Eliot when he composed poetry, there is still a distinct Eliotic quality whenever his work
is read (Bergonzi 7, 50, Cuddy 55, Mack 1743, Martin 41, 97, Unger 10).
When Eliot began
to compose The Waste Land, he used all the different themes, techniques, and
style's he had been developing to this point.
The Waste Land is developed entirely using fragments and
quotations. This is symbolic of his
despair in succeeding in ever fully articulating meaning. Although it is fragmented, it also reveals
moments of continuity and wholeness quantified with recurrent themes of time,
alienation, isolation, and articulation.
Because Eliot used fragmentation as his style when writing this poem, it
survived being cut in half by the editing of Ezra Pound. Many author's argue that Ezra Pound could
have edited many more parts out, without effecting the meaning Eliot was trying
to convey (Bergonzi 11, Mack 1743, Martin 20-22, 110, Ricks 9, Unger 18).
T. S. Eliot's use
of estrangement in poems is his way of expressing feelings between himself and
the world. His inability to give himself
to, or to possess others is an example of the greater problem of
isolation. The isolation theme is
prevalent throughout the Waste Land, with many of his characters entwined. This is probably related to his problem of
articulating. Whatever his reason for
using isolation it caused him to turn towards god for answers. In 1927 he was accepted as a member of the
Church of England. Prior to this time he
used isolationism and alienation throughout all his poems and plays, up to, and
including The Waste Land (Mack 1745, Martin 16, Unger 12, 18).
Cook
3
Perhaps it was
Eiot's religious convictions, or his ideals towards culture, religion, and sex
that had the greatest impact on the development of The Waste Land. He felt that if all of man had set a common goal to unite
culture, religion, and sex that it would solve the ill's of civilization. His feeling's towards sex was that casual sex
is "having sex for the sake of sex" (Martin 108). It is evident in The Waste Land that sex has
been dehumanized, no one enjoys it, it appears to be portrayed as a chore. This is obvious in verses II and III. In verse I,
"The Burial of the Dead", Eliot allows an exception. In this verse I see the hyacinth girl as a
woman of beauty and sensuality. However,
in verses II, "A Game of Chess" and III, "The Fire sermon" , I fail to see
where anybody is enjoying sex. It
appears that they are having sex for the duty and not the pleasure, even though
there appears to be no reason, such as bearing a child (Martin 16, Ricks 90).
"A Game of Chess", begins and ends with fragments from
Shakespear's plays. The next fragment I
saw was an abrupt switch to the story of Philomel, who was raped by a "barbarous
king". Then it switches to a story
of a woman with bad nerves. It is
obvious that she is waiting for something, but I do not know what. Now the verse switches to a scene in a bar
where Lil and a friend are talking about Albert who was just released from the
army. Albert had given Lil, some money
for new teeth, however, Lil spent the money
on pills that would induce miscarriages.
Lil took five of these pills indicating she had five miscarriages. A side effect of these pills was that they
added thirty years to Lil's looks. I
believe that Lil will stay with Albert due to this effect. Perhaps Albert is
the only man who will have her (Mack 1753, Martin 108).
Cook
4
The beginning
verse of "The Fire Sermon" is
indicating a change. The nymphs of old
are departed, nobody believes in them any more.
The Thames river is not the same.
It is now polluted, losing it's sense of serenity. Then it switches to another reference to the
rape of Philomel before changing to the scenes with Tiresias. Teresias, who is a blind prophet, has been
both male and female (bisexual?). He
tells a story of more devalued sexual relations about a liaison with a
typist. I see the typist, who I think is
supposed to appear as an erotic object,
as someone without any erotic appeal.
Her surroundings are very uninviting.
Her "stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays" (Mack 1758)
are piled on the divan, yuck! There is
no excitement, no energy. I am sure this has a direct bearing on
Eliot's feelings towards sexuality. After this scene Eliot switched back to
fragmentary writing. Within these
fragments there are some echo's of the typist and then the verse ends with one
word, "burning" (Mack 1760) standing all alone on the page (Cuddy 30,
Mack 1750, Martin 109).
The 4th verse,
"Death by Water", is
entirely symbolic of death followed by rebirth.
It tells of the corpse that is deteriorated by the sea. The current rising and falling implies
regeneration, or hope, for humankind (Kenner 80, Mack 1760).
In the 5th verse, "What the Thunder
Said", I see thunder as a promising
of rain, which is symbolic of rebirth.
There is also symbology of Christ's renewal when Eliot refers to the
"third man" who is walking beside the man in the lead, but when counted
can only count two. And then again when
he refers to the cock crowing which is connected to the story Christ told of
Peter's betrayal. The cock could also
indicate the coming of morning and new hope (Kenner 110, Mack 1761, Ricks 70).
Cook
5
For me
understanding and comprehending
"The Waste Land" would
have been impossible without the notes supplied at the end of each page in our
text book. Although I have read many
different books on this poem it is still impossible for me to entirely
comprehend it. I believe Eliot summed it
all up when he said " In The Waste Land, I wasn't even bothering whether I
understood what I was saying" (Martin, 42). To me this was very obvious. The way he jumped from point to point, and
quote to quote, there was obviously no reason nor rhyme. But then again, it is very obvious that Eliot
new exactly what he was doing and the impact that he would have on modern
literature. I believe that Eliot wanted
the poem to be difficult and he no doubt conceived of it's difficulty as an
important aspect to it's total meaning.
I have learned much of T. S. Eliot in all the various readings I have
done. What I learned was that Eliot was
a very intelligent yet difficult man. He
had very strong moral convictions and was determined to try and influence
mankind. I don't think he had any real
influence on mankind's morals, but he certainly impacted modern literature
(Unger 36).
Cook 6
Works Cited
Bergenzi,
Bernard. T. S. Eliot, Collier Books, New York New York, 1972
Cuddy, Lois A.,
and David H. Hirsch, eds. Critical Essays on T. S. Eliot, The Waste
Land. G. K. Hall & Co., 1991.
Kenner, Hugh, ed.
T. S. Eliot: A Collection of Critical Essays.
Prentice Hall Inc., 1962.
Mack, Maynard.
ed. The Norton Anthology of World
Masterpieces Sixth Edition. W. W. Norton and Company, 1992: 1743 - 1770.
Martin, Graham.
ed. Eliot in perspective. Humanities
Press, 1970.
Ricks,
Christopher. T. S. Eliot and
Prejudice. University of California
Press, 1988.
Unger,
Leonard. T. S. Eliot. University of Minnesota Press, 1970.
T. S. Eliot's
"The Waste
Land"
BY
Robin L. Cook
World Lit II
Research Paper
Word Count-1556
--------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment