106- Themes in 'The Waste Land'

The Waste Land poem was written by T.S.Eliot. A wasteland is someplace that's empty and desolate, with no sign of life or growth. An area may be a wasteland because of toxic materials in the soil, or due to climate conditions like strong winds.

1. yt The Waste Land - T.S.Eliot

2. Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English Name :- Riddhi H. Rathod Presentation Topic :- Themes in “The Waste Land” Paper No. :- 106 -20 th century literature -1 M.A. Sem. :- 2 Enrollment No. :- 4069206420220025 Roll No. :- 18

3. Points to be ponder:- About the Author About the Poem Theme of the poem

4. About the author: Born: 26 September,1888 St.Louis , Missouri, United States Died: 4 January,1965 London, United Kingdom Thomas Stearns Eliot Poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor One of the 20 th century’s major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. Notable works:- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), The Waste Land(1922), Middlemarch, Four Quartets, The Hallow Men, Tradition and the Individual Talent, Preludes etc. On November 4, 1948, T.S.Eliot wins the Noble Prize in Literature, for his profound effects on the direction of modern poetry. PowerPoint

5. The first, “The Burial of the Dead”, introduces the diverse themes of disillusionment and despair. The second, “A Game of Chess”, employs alternating narrations, in which vignettes of several characters address those themes experientially. In the third section, its title reference to the Buddhist Fire Sermon, which encourage the individual to liberate himself from suffering through detachment from the five sense and the conscious mind. About the poem:- The Waste Land, long poem by T.S.Eliot , published in 1922. The 433 line, five-part poem was dedicated to fellow poet Ezra Pound. It was one of the most influential works of the 20 th century. 1 2 3

6. Conti… The shortest section of the poem, “Death by Water” describes a man, Phlebas and Phoenician, who has died, apparently by drowning. The final section of The Waste Land is dramatic in both its imagery and its events. The first half of the section builds to an apocalyptic climax, as suffering people become “hooded hordes swarming” and the “unreal” cities of Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria, Vienna, and London are destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. 4 5 5

7. Death:- The Wasteland embraces death by engaging the reader in desolation, which is something that is often tied into death itself. Death brings with it the desolation of loneliness. He uses death to allude to the death and rebirth of Christ, using the death of Christ as a symbol of the death of religion in the modern world.

8. . Renewal/Rebirth: The theme of renewal and rebirth is reoccurring throughout "The Wasteland". There are several major concepts of the poem that contribute to this idea of renewal. The poem begins in the month of April, the beginning of spring, which is a symbol of renewal and growth after the harsh winter months.

9. The Seasons:- The basic theme of The Waste Land is the disillusionment of the post-war generation and sterility of the modern man. The critics have commented on the theme in different words: “vision of desolation and spiritual drought” ( F.R.Leavis ) “the plight of the whole generation”.( I.A.Richardson )

10. Love:- The references to  Tristan und Isolde  in “The Burial of the Dead,” to Cleopatra in “A Game of Chess,” and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggest that love, in "The Waste Land," is often destructive. Tristan and Cleopatra die, while Tereus rapes Philomela, and even the love for the hyacinth girl leads the poet to see and know “nothing."

11. Water:- Water is symbolic for cleansing and rebirth, as well as death and destruction. In Part 3: The Fire Sermon, the main setting of the poem is the Thanes River in London, England. Before any other major themes are introduced, the river is explained as being peaceful and abandoned.

12. History:- The Waste Land can be viewed as a poem about brokenness and loss, and Eliot’s numerous allusion to the First World War suggest that the war played a significant part in bringing about this social, psychological, and emotional collapse.

13. Thank you!

14. CI CIATATION:- Sultan, Hadi S., and A. Rai'a . " Intertextuality : The Themes of Death, Sterility and Aridity in Eliot's The Waste Land as a Case Study." Buhuth Mustaqbaliya Scientific Periodical Journal 4.1 (2007): 7-32.   Dalli , Elise. "The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/t-s-eliot/the-waste-land/ . Accessed 6 March 2023.