Weeks 10-12
Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
I will be working in the modern section, Question 1
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
It should be posted by 24th May.
I have decided since I like the idea of "the wasteland" and the Lonewander that usually moves in it, I will do a big post to answer all of its questions.
DeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
I should be posted hopefully by the 31st May 2015.
Looking forward to it. Beware, the notes provided by the poet are not quite what they seem! They are more a part of the puzzle than an explanation.
DeleteThank you for the tip, Mike. I will be posting my big answer to this section later on today, my mega question/answer response.
DeletePart 1 of overall question.
DeleteHow has “The Wasteland” been interpreted?
The story of “The Wasteland” (1922) has been interrupted in multiple ways. In my readings of it, it can be described as a slow descent into chaos. Examples to prove this point are from section 1, so labeled “The Burial of the Dead” and “Death By Water”.
The first example is from “The Burial of the Dead” on line 76, having been translated from French “Omg! hypocrite reader! -my similar , -my brother !”
This example proves that the writer was a times at odds with what he was writing.
The final example is from “Death By Water” from line 357 to 358, “Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop, But there is no water.”
This example with the repetition of the word both “drip” and “drop” only go to show that the story will meet an untimely confusing end.
Part 2 of Q1 is below.
My own opinion and interruption of “The Wasteland”.
DeleteIn reading “The Wasteland” by T.S.Eliot, I found it extremely hard to follow. (Eliot, S, T. 1922). To solve this issue, i found a video of an audio type of the whole of “The Wasteland” at around 30 minutes long. (tim24frames. Aug 3 2013). This video is an interruption of the text to give some meaning as to who and what it being said.
What I found out was that in the story, there were many voices (2 female and one african american man). Not just the single droning voice of T.S.Eliot who spoke.
The other voices I heard were from a female woman whose name I can’t find and an african american man (I believe it is a younger James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader from Star Wars 4-6).
Examples of the different voices come in the following sections.
For line 43 to Line 49, an older female voice speaks. To give an example of the older woman, perhaps the mother of the other female character who is the partner to the main male character who is voiced by T.S.Eliot. “Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe.”
For line 111 “'My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.” is the voice of a younger woman.
For line 173, the african american (James Earl Jones) voice again for the example of “THE river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf”
For the whole text and the 5 sections of the story, the four voices alternate depending on what is being said. The african american voice is what I might call the narrator of some of the sections including one of the longest sections in the story from Line 215 to 248.
Each section is written and given indication by its title. An example of this is in the smallest section, IV Death By Water. In the section, it describes depressing a person or one of the characters drowning. Perhaps a fisherman from a capsized boat out at sea. What makes this sentence what I would consider racist is the line 318 to 319, “Entering the whirlpool, Gentile or Jew.” Dare I make the remark that the writer wanted them died. It was written in 1922 so their might be some proof of the society of the time to back up this claim. (Eliot, S, T. 1922).
What Mike Johnson had to say about “The Wasteland”
This is a quote from Mike Johnson (Johnson, M. 2015). ““the notes provided by the poet (were they though?) are not quite what they seem! They are more a part of the puzzle than an explanation.” It details that the notes given by the writer only add to the mystery of the text and that the text itself is very hard to understand and requires a great amount of analysis to be fully understood.
He also commented on the fact that the piece was reflective of the global atmosphere in the aftermath of WW1 and the rhyme of a machine gun. I would agree with this in sections where T.S.Eliot voiced them. An example of this is from Line 321 to Line 322, “O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.”
My conclusion is the notes at the end of the main Wasteland piece do not help much to explain the writer's intent. Even so in the “Article on The Wasteland”, overall only explains some of the story and tries to make sense of it but in doing so, I only presents more questions. (Johnson, M. 2015). (Leverson, M. 1984).
This text, The Wasteland can be interrupted in a variety of ways and cannot ever truly be understood by the reader no matter the time of analysis and readings that occur for it.
Part 2 of overall question, Some of Key features of these texts, what makes this story unique (Words used)? is below.
Part 2 - Some of Key features of these texts, what makes this story unique (Words used)?
DeleteMetaphors used and lots of listing?
Having read and heard the story, “The Wasteland” I have found it contains a lot of very descriptive, imaginative and dare I say metaphoric phrases. An example I found of this which took my interest is on Line 177-178, “The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends.” This paints in my mind and perhaps the reader's mind a very clear picture of what is going on and this kind of sentence and dialogue of a similar nature help to create a depth to the story. I would say the use of metaphor in his story and strong imagery is one of its most key features.
Voices in the text.
Another key feature of the story, is its many voices. These voices if you only read it, make “The Wasteland” seem like a long never ending and droning story. (Eliot, S, T. 1922). With the spoken word version however, it is made out very clearly. (tim24frames. Aug 3 2013). This spoken word version of “The Wasteland” offers the reader with a clearer understanding of who is speaking at each section and what gender, age and ethnicity they are (important to the overall story). Having multiple voices in this text stretches the narrative and makes it more believable as it is not a story only from one person’s perspective.
I would say without having found this video, I wouldn’t have known that other voices were in the text at all.
Choices in sections.
The final feature that this story has is its usage of narrative direction and choice given by the titles of each section.
As there are five sections, so named “1. the burial of the dead, 2. a game of chess, 3. The fire sermon (huge section, half of the text), 4. Death by water, 5. what the thunder said,” it helps the reader to understand what they may expect to read in each one. Though each section is greatly differing in line length (“The Fire Sermon” is the longest at 138 lines). (Eliot, S, T. 1922).
Part 3 - How have these themes been influential?
DeleteThemes of the text?
In my own personal opinion, especially in the final section of “The Wasteland”, what the thunder said. It is important that it is a future we shouldn’t have or live in (the aftermath of an atomic war). (Eliot, S, T. 1922). The use of “what the thunder said,” is a metaphor for the actions of war and in my modern opinion, atomic war.
The use of multiple voices in the text as a theme has helped greatly in my opinion to increase the narratives created since 1922. No longer are they creating stories revolving around a protagonist and an antagonist. They weave in others stories and show that the actions of the many or the few have a profound difference on the future.
How they have been influential?
When I came to think about how stories have changed and morphed since the 1920’s, I believe in thanks to T.S.Eliot’s “The Wasteland”, he created whole new ways and genres to explore in text and maybe in life (The lone wanderer theme or motif, stories like the Walking dead with multiple character perspectives).
With the creation of video games since the 1970’s, I believe he helped to give a narrative base to the following games and movies.
The Wasteland (1984) and Wasteland 2 (2014)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/240760/ - Wasteland 2
http://store.steampowered.com/app/259130/ - Wasteland 1
These video games are about a group of survivors of the post-atomic horror of the world (At a given time of global nuclear war) and their struggle to make a life for themselves in the new nuclear world.
Fallout 3 (2008) and Fallout New Vegas (2010)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/2028016/ - New Vegas
http://store.steampowered.com/app/22370/?snr=1_7_15__13 - Fallout 3
These are videogames about a person from an underground vault or a wanderer who helps people of a given area or region like Washington DC (Fallout 3), the nevada desert (Fallout New Vegas) or in Boston (in the recently announced Fallout 4, release is TBC)
Mad Max Trilogy (1979-1985 and the modern tale, 2015)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079501/
The first movie in a series of three other movies where a lone traveller called Max, driving in a car, travels around the world fixing people's problems (a world where petroleum and other fossil or power sources like gas or uranium for nuclear power plants has run out). He doesn’t speak often and he lets his actions speak to who he is.
Here is the reference list for the sources of whrere I got most of the information.
DeleteReferences
Eliot, S, T. (1922). The Wasteland. (PP 200-211).Accessed on 27th May 2015. Retrieved from Desire_Critical Reader_2014.pdf
Johnson, M. (2015). Opinions about “The Wasteland”. Accessed on 28th May 2015.
Leverson, M. (1984). A Genealogy of Modernism: A study of English literary doctrine. (PP 212-216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Accessed on 4th May 2015. Retrieved from Desire_Critical Reader_2014.pdf
Tim24frames (Aug 2 2013). T.S. Eliot reads: The Waste Land. Accessed on 4th June 2015. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqvhMeZ2PlY
Personal note, I cannot indent the second line of each reference.
The game links in post "steam" in part 3 aren't included in the reference list as they are self explainatory and are there if you copy them to another tab on your browser and want to view them.
DeleteThe same applies to the max max movies, the links and information for them were provided by IMDB.
All of my previous comments related to each given week for Week 10 to Week 12 where a blog response is required. (Q1 = W10, Q2 = W11, Q3 = W12).
DeleteThis is my final content post for Literature and Desire for S1 2015 but I will however comment and participate in discussions with others in this blog group 10.
If you have any questions about anything I have said or even want to comment, please feel free to comment below.
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
ReplyDelete1) how has it been interpreted?
I would choose some parts of the poem to analysis. ‘The Waste Land’ is a poem by a British poet T.S. Eliot in 1922. The poem can divide into five sections, first section, The Burial of the Dead; second section, A Game of Chess; third section, The Fire Sermon; Fourth section, Death by Water and the last section, What the Thunder said. ‘The Wasteland’ is a representative work in symbolism. Actually, this poem has been influenced by World War One. Eliot described the scene of London City after world war one. We can see some sentences about the description in the first section, The Burial of the Dead.
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. (line 61-65)
He expresses the profound human desire to cross, immoral despicable life, ugly dark original appearance of Western society, to convey to the reality of disgust, disappointment after World War one in the Western society.
Below this is the poem in section 4, death by water. There is only 10 sentences. And this is my thinking about the section 4. It said the Phoenician has been died a fortnight in the sea. Now, he is a dead body and forgets everything that he did when he’s alive, whatever the stages of youth or old. Gradually he entering the whirlpool, and disappears. Only the people who are alive would remember his life and things. Eliot thinks people should be face their evil, such as lust, greed (these evil said in the section three)
PHLEBAS the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. (line 312—315)
Reference:
DeleteT.S. Eliot. (1922). The Waste Land.
What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteOf Course, there have come out many protest song/rap in the last decade. And the meaning behind the song also is totally can express from the lyrics. I find some protest songs which protesting the war from the internet. For example,
Green Day ‘Wake me up When September Ends’ (2004)
This song was protesting the Bush administration in 2004., while criticized its foreign policy and those who endorse it. In the music video of this song, we can see that the soldier and his girlfriend torn apart by the Iraq War. The lyrics at the beginning ‘Like my father’s come to pass Seven years has gone so fast Wake me up when September ends’ and the lyrics at the end ‘Like my father’s come to pass Twenty years has gone so fast Wake me up when September ends’ It represents the war is never stop. There is a question in soldier’s mind, ‘when can they come home?’ They never know, because the war keep continue years by years.
Green Day ’21 Guns’ (2009)
This song is a protest song which protesting war. Lyrics ‘Do you know what’s worth fighting for? When it’s not worth dying for?’ it represent that what is the reason of fighting in the war, especially the soldiers in the war. If you don’t understand it, why are you fighting for? More, ‘Lay down your arms, Give up the fight’. It’s definitely represent to stop fighting in the war.
Tom Waits ‘The day after tomorrow (2004)
This song is using the first person point of view of soldier. It’s protesting the war. Lyrics express that the soldier want to see his family very much. He don’t understand the meaning of being a soldier. He is not fighting for justice or freedom. He is fighting for himself and his life. He believes he will back home and do whatever he wants in the future.
Reference
Hutchinson, K. (2011). The 10 Most Powerful Protest Songs of the 21st Century – Flavorwire. Retrieved from http://flavorwire.com/143568/the-10-most-powerful-protest-songs-of-the-21st-century/2
The question is number 5 of Post-Modernism
Delete1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
ReplyDeleteTo know what the beats had in common one would search to those whom themselves were beats. The beat generation according to Holmes (1952), tended to have the following in common: They lived in and around the USA, mainly localized in Greenwich village, New York. They disliked the materialistic culture of their generation (makes me think of how much more they would dislike today's society), they actively pursued, without embarrassment, drugs, sex and art. They were considered, amongst their group, intellectuals, writers, poets, a new age group of bohemian artists.
Where did the name of the beats come from?
The beat generation label, came from a conversation between Jack Kerouac and John Clellon Holmes. During this conversation, John Holmes pushed Kerouac for a word that would encompass the generation of which they were both a part of. Jack's reply, according to Wason (1998), was simple,
" So I guess you might say we're a 'beat' generation."
He later clarified this by saying,
“Members of the generation that came of age after World War II, who supposedly, as a result of disillusionment stemming from the cold war, espouse mystical detachment, and relaxation of social and sexual tensions.”
What I believe Jack Kerouac is saying, is that this beating down effect, in which stems from the society he lived in and the wars it was involved in, created a sense of disenchantment with the youth. That the process of being beaten down to the core of oneself, inspired a new perspective on life. Gaining a spiritual outlook in which one should live to the utmost extremes. Drinking, gambling, fighting, sex in all shades was what one should not only search out but truly experience to feel alive.
References:
Holmes, J. C. (1952). This is the beat generation: The New York Times Magazine, United States. The Times.
Watson, S. (1998). The Birth of the Beat Generation: Visionaries, Rebels, and Hipsters, 1944-1960 (Circles of the Twentieth Century). United States. Pantheon
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteTo answer this question I have given what is relevant to me as protest work. Some of my favorite artists are the ones who tend to sing/rap things that can be considered controversial, or viewed in a different perspective, they sing/rap things that aren't seen as being mainstream.
First and foremost of these artists is a spoken word poet called Scroobius Pip. He has always been someone I admire, from a young age he suffered from a speech impediment, know as stuttering. Yet through training and pure desire he is able to overcome this impediment while rapping. You can listen to any of his songs to get an idea of his style but one of my favorites is: Introduction by Scroobius Pip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_Gh8TWpQE8
Another artists who is similar to Scroobius Pip is B Dolan. He often raps about today's political or cultural issues. This song is so relevant in America today due to the growing amount of Police brutality. The song is called 'Film the Police' by B Dolan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyT1buoyTnY
Another form of protest, though this is not a song it is a type of protest, in which the use of modern media is used. I do not completely agree with The Trews that Russell Brand is the host of. However, I do understand and often find myself sympathizing with his views. The Trews is a YouTube news clip where Russell Brand, a well known celebrity, voices his concerns with today's political and cooperate processors. In his own way he is protesting against his own stared name uprising.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_17f7Abylvw
Though this is lightly older than the ones mentioned I find the rap style of Nas a good form of protest. He has many songs regarding the oppression of black rights, and is often very vocal on this subject, to the point some would find him offensive. However, all he does is speak the truth.
The song here is 'Nas feat Lauryn Hill, If I Ruled the World'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW55FRXlPEs
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
ReplyDelete‘Master of War’ is a protest song by Bob Dylan in 1963. The song was a protest against the arms build-up during the Cold War. Bob Dylan said in 2001, ‘"'Masters of War'... is supposed to be a pacifistic song against war. It's not an anti-war song. It's speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military-industrial complex as he was making his exit from the presidency. That spirit was in the air, and I picked it up." (Wiki, 2015) Until 21s century, this song still involved in controversy during the Bush administration.
In 2004, ‘Master of War was involved in some controversy when the secret service showed up at Boulder School. According to Alan Maass, members of a band playing ‘Master of War’ in the talent show say ‘George Bush, I hope you die, and I hope you die soon,’ and ‘I’ll stand over your grave.’ (Maass, 2004) These are the lyrics in last verse of ‘Master of War’.
"And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead."
Reference:
Master of War, Wikipedia Retrieved 11/06/2015 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_War
Maass. A, Is Bush afraid of a Bob Dylan song?, Retrieved from
http://socialistworker.org/2004-2/521/521_02_DylanSong.shtml
How is beat Poetry linked to Rap?
ReplyDeleteSlam Poetry
It’s a type of poetry, which expresses a person’s life story, the struggles and is usually said in an intensely emotional style. Its often very powerful, sincere and usually moving.
American Poet Marc Smith started poetry slam in Chicago in the year 1984. First poetry slam was held in New York in the year 1988 and to this day on Slam poetry have spread to all parts of the world.
Rap
Is a type of popular music of US Black origin, it’s recited quickly and rhythmically usually over an instrumental backing.
Often people would think and argue that slam poetry is the music genre of rap. Slam poetry and rap consist of words usually spoken in a rhythmic way and it lets out the emotions as well as the opinions of the speaker. Both Slam poetry and rap are written to be performed in front of a live audience.
However slam poetry is not the same as rap. Firstly slam poetry is often referred to as a form of literature, and is usually accepted by a rather older generation of society as well as teachers. The raw emotion and words in slam poetry is seen as something of great meaning to older people, however if they were to listen to rap music, the reaction would somewhat be the opposite. In Rap music, there is always some background music playing where as in slam poetry, it’s just the sound of the speakers voice.
There is a lot of stereotype associated with Rap, because of the video clips now a days, often older people look towards rap music as somewhat to be all about fame, money, sex, girls body parts and so on. Which has caused a debate concerning its explicit subjects and speech. The image that the rapper also portrays can also add on to this, typical ‘gangster looking guy who looks like he doesn’t give a stuff about what people think of him’. Although rap music is seen as something that the older generation are not in to, rap music however is seen as the lingua franca of global youth culture, assorted in its expressions but stands rooted in a common past.
Rap music is worldly publicized in American culture, however its yet to attain sufficient recognition as poetry and many universities have incorporated it in to English, African American studies and in music.
Often when roaming the Internet or face book, I’ve noticed that a lot of the teens or the generation now, quote a lot of rappers. I guess the words have some sort of significance in what they are going through. Tupac is a common example a quote that often stood out was “I’m not saying that I’m going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world”. I guess not all rap music have a negative side but there is also positivity in rap music that often teens are now using as life lessons.
It’s safe to safe that rap music can be studied in different angles like poetry but it’s not the same. Slam poetry is clearly favored upon the older generation due to the stereotypes associated with rap music. Although slam poetry is not seen all the time on television like rap music, they however are able to attract a large fan base.
NPR Music. (2010). The anthropology of rap: lyrics as poetry. Retrieved 10 June, 2015 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131125923
Urban Dictionary. (2010). Slam poetry. Retrieved 10 June, 2015 from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Slam+Poetry
I am answering the question 1. The poem, ‘The wasteland’, is extremely well-known to people as the most significant in modern society and the most difficult to understand the poem and what Eliot would like to say. Even if the poem was written after the World War I, the poem is known as the most critical poem in modern society. Why? Certain people believe that the poem is for Buddhism or some people say that the poem is with regard to the nihilistic thought which is after the World War I. The reason the poem has been interpreted into various way is that Eliot used various citations or grammars that have not been used and seen so far. Furthermore, he annotated his poem. He made messages in the poem through ideas of other poets or authors such as Shakespeare, Frazer, Wagner and Dante. Therefore, to understand the poem, ‘The wasteland’, readers must understand scenes and sentences which are from the original texts. To empathize the poem emotionally could be helpful as well. Some sections and parts don’t match each other with time and space. Certain critics state that the poem has not been even completed yet.
ReplyDeleteApril is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain
Elliot sated that April is the cruelest month. After reading the poem, I feel this poem was written regards as him-self. April has a spring breeze and sun-shine that is warm and makes people comfortable. However, he was really exhausted from January to March due to his job. Therefore, he may write the poem as ironical.
Reference
Eliot, T. (1992). The waste land. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg.
Pericles, L. (n.d.). The Waste Land. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/The_Waste_Land
The Waste Land. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2015.
This question was really tough to me because I can see some features from the poem but it is too objective to get true meanings or features I think. First of all, the poem is known to people Elliot cited messages he would like to send and sentences from The Golden Bough by James George Frazer, From Ritual to Romance by L. Weston, plays by Shakespeare and Tristan and Isolde by Wagner. Therefore, to understand the poem clearly, readers need to understand the original texts as well. Second of all, the poem has a lot of lines and symbols that are not acceptable to understand even though people repeat to read them so hence, various meanings of them have been interpreted by many readers and that has been the most difficult poem to understand.
ReplyDeleteReference
Eliot, T. (1992). The waste land. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg.
Calareso, J. (n.d.). The Waste Land: Structure and Style Explained. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-waste-land.html
I believe that the poem, The Wasteland was written after the World War I. At the period after the war Europe and European were absolutely devastated. People would like to recover the world and themselves that were before the World War I. However, they were hurt in their mind and to recover them was not easy at all. Then Elliot might want people restore themselves as cold ice melt through the sunshine in spring so therefore, he wrote the poem for people. Furthermore, he might want as well the people who are in modern society restore as well if they are hurt by sciences and civilizations coming. It has been influential through recovery people hurt by war, sciences, revolution and civilizations.
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' mean?
ReplyDelete1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
The Waste Land is a very complicated and philosophical poem written by T.S. Eliot in 1922. Eliot draws on several external texts/ideas from different beliefs, cultures etc. such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Western texts. At times it is written in different languages which adds to it's complexity. It is very difficult to read not because the language is difficult but the ideologies and themes are very complex. T.S Eliot's works often tend to be ambiguous and clever as there are many interpretations. The structure is quite confusing as well and it often switches voices, locations, themes and you can get quite lost. The poem is already long as it is, but it was almost twice as long as it had been edited and cut down. It is split into five parts with titles.
The Burial of the Dead
A Game of Chess
The Fire Sermon
Death by Water
What the Thunder Said
It starts of "APRIL is the cruelest month" and explores dark emotions and thoughts of nostalgia and unfulfilled desires through metaphors of the Seasons. Then it
suddenly switches to memories of someone called Marie. There are many lines throughout the poem that I really enjoy.
"Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow"
The snow is cold and unforgiving yet it makes us numb and hides the pain in a cold blanket.
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
This is a religious reference, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. You are born as dust and shall return to dust i.e mortality
The second part has a reference to Greek myth of the Woman transformed into a nightingale after being raped by King Tereus. There is also some anti society, capitalism, system and popular culture in a bar scene with the bar tender telling her last customer to hurry up because it is closing time.
Eliot wrote such a complicated poem with many obscure allusions because of the way that the world was becoming, so if you don't understand this poem you must visit a library and become cultured. It's basically telling people to be more educated, and cultured and to appreciate the art and beauty of life than to be concerned with the superficial.
http://www.shmoop.com/the-waste-land/
The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot (Analysis & Interpretation) by Nick Courtright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEC5k5Y--gk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land