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Elliot: WASTE LAND - Boredom
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Analyzes the theme of boredom in Eliot's poem THE WASTE LAND. Discusses spiritual dryness & the inability of individuals & nations to hold on to beliefs that provide meaning, vitality, & creativity in the post WWI era.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analyzes the theme of boredom in Eliot's poem THE WASTE LAND. Discusses spiritual dryness & the inability of individuals & nations to hold on to beliefs that provide meaning, vitality, & creativity in the post WWI era.
Paper Introduction:
The Waste Land
Introduction
As the old Norton Anthology of English Literature stated, The Waste Land appears to be about spiritual dryness, about the inability of individuals and nations to hold on to beliefs that provide meaning for their lives and vitality for growth and creativity. It seems to reflect the ultimate boredom of meaninglessness. This analysis explores the theme of boredom in The Waste Land.
The Context
This poem was written during the post World War I period and before the preparations for World War II began in earnest. It represents the reactive mode of people who participated in a war
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In other words, to Wilson, the desolation and spiritual ariditypredated World War I, rather than arising from it. The boredomdevelops because the characters in the poem have not been able to hold onto values or passions. T.S. Norton & Company. All is aridity, meaningless jumble, going through the motions,tiredness, and an inability to engage with life. (1922). It represents thereactive mode of people who participated in a war that was widely seen ascalling for the meaningless sacrifice of millions of men. Fundamentally, then, the wasted land of Eliot's poem is analogous tothe parched land of the Grail myth, in which the leader is unable torestore the land to fruitfulness. It can arise from theconditions of early modern life itself which was focused on the developmentof a commercial-industrial civilization that had little meaning to offer. NY: Alfred A. In G. Everything that is counterposedto that dryness seems to be unreal. This is followed by a longer passage in which one voiceharangues another, Lil presumably, about her failure to do anything abouther appearance and the likelihood that her husband will reject her. There is another shorter section, starting with the "Unreal City" andMr. At the same time, the factthat this phrase follows a line referring to dusty trees almost makes itseem as though it is also meant to refer to the boredom of Highbury, ofthat place of birth.IV. He was primarily interested in sound and language(Hall, 1963). Poetry may have been the means for him to searchfor the Grail that would illuminate and revitalize that internal wasteland. Eliot. Without the Grail, the landwill wither and die. What the Thunder Said The final section, too, seems to pick up the theme of desolation, ofspiritual and emotional dryness. Eliot indicated that it had also not been his intentionto express the disillusionment of a generation, even though the criticsread his poem that way. They are unableto speak, unable to mean, unable to act. To him, the middle-class cultureof New England during the early part of the century encompassed anaesthetic and spiritual drought, leaving Eliot to grow up in a region ofdesolation. In other words, he recognized thatthe poem was difficult to comprehend, and blamed his own insufficiencies asa poet, rather than the reader's (Hall, 1963). They are neither living nor dead. The wasteland of his life might have been apurely eternal one, involving the dryness of the bank and the difficulty ofdealing with his wife. The wasteland ofEliot's poem does not depend upon the blasted ideals of the young menexperiencing a meaningless war and its aftermath. It is in this theme that Eliot actually uses the word "boredom" todescribe the female typist at the end of the meal. Death by Water Section IV seems to contribute little to the theme of boredom.However, this section touches on death and decay, referring to the story ofPhlebas and his bones being picked under the water.V. Hall, D. These are people who lackthe key to their prison and so they stay within it, unable to respond. This analysis explores the themeof boredom in The Waste Land.The Context This poem was written during the post-World War I period and beforethe preparations for World War II began in earnest. Plimpton (Ed.) Writers at work.NY: Penguin Books. Parini (Ed.) TheColumbia history of American poetry. The Waste Land. Pritchard, W.H. The narratordeals with memories, instead, rather than with new life. She simply gets through it, puts upwith it. Knopf. (1991). What, then, were people left with in terms of belief systems?According to Eliot's poem, there is very little that is left to them. Wilson, E. What does Eliot himself say inthe poem? It includes the nightingalewith her inviolable voice, pursued by the world, and the hair spread out infiery point. He wasat least partly experimenting and trying to communicate things that hecould not bring easily into language. This is the war of trench warfare, mud,Flanders Field, and the death of idealism. There is no water, only rock, availableto the person. Men entered thebattle with great enthusiasm, only to spend months fighting back and forthover small areas of muddy ground. The language in this first section is instructive. Updike, J. With those comments inmind, how do some critics and readers interpret the themes of The WasteLand?Eliot's Starting Point Eliot himself noted that the title, the plan, and some of thesymbolism of the poem were suggested by a book by Jessie Weston about theGrail legend. She is not interestedenough to return the caresses of the young men, but she is also apparentlynot interested enough to repel them. We have "dullroots" (4), "A little life with dried tubers" (7), "A heap of brokenimages" (22), "the dead tree" (23), "the dry stone" (24) and many otherimages and extended images of lifelessness and lack of vitality.Essentially, we have people who are neither living nor dead. He noted that he thoughtthat he had more to say in The Waste Land than he had the capability andmaturity to express in a simple way. He was involved with caring for aneurotic wife, working full-time at a bank, and participating in theliterary life of the early part of the century with some of its moreprovocative figures. NY: W.W. In J. These are all speculations, however. Perhaps the first thing tothink about is the essence of boredom itself. The Fire Sermon This is the longest section and the most complex. At the center of that is alack of vitality, an inability to create enough meaning in relationship totake action to maintain it.III. The Grail legend deals with the search for the Grail whichis expected to restore vitality to the land. References Eliot, T.S. What does this have to do with boredom? Still, the text is the major document that we have to work with. Like thetypist, they are neither able to respond to life nor repel its movements.Instead, they go through the motions, glad that another day has passed.They live in unreal cities with empty rivers, or they walk through drymountains. Boredom is similar to ennui,or anomie, to states in which the individual lacks vitality, because he orshe does not have an activity or object that engages interest or passion. Axel's castle. (1993). Abrams (Ed.). A Game of Chess The second section seems to present us with a series of images, ortableaus that represent the condition of waiting for something to happen.The chess board is set up and waiting. William Pritchard (1993) actually recommended that people approach thetext without reading all the notes that have been attached to it in bookslike The Norton Anthology, and even without Eliot's notes. What of the later part of Eliot's life, however? But the end of the second section seems to descend again into ennui.From line 131 through line 138, the description is of an individualwaiting, setting the stage for a visitor, but waiting for the knock to comeat the door. Pritchardindicated that the poem has gathered so many critical accretions that it islost under the weight of notes and interpretations, almost unapproachableby the average reader.I. As a consequence, searchers go out andtry to find the magical object that will bring back what has been lost. It is dry, arid, parched. Bore in line 2 3 refers to the individual'sbirth, rather than to the feelings of boredom. In M.H. Eliot indicated that Pound's editing washelpful to him at that time, and that he cut whole sections from the poem,including a long section about a shipwreck and section that imitated theRape of the Lock. There is the unreal third person whodoes not materialize, but is always at the edge of sight, the unrealcities, and a series of jumbled and seemingly meaningless images.Although the poem ends with the peace that passes all understanding, thisseems to be more of an imposition on the world, rather than a resolutionthat evolves.The Concluding Theme Boredom does not seem to be a central theme in this poem. Theland is dry and desolate, unlikely to give forth much life. Norton & Company, Inc. Instead, at their core is an ennui. What are the images that he presents to the reader? Althoughthat might be the surface impulse or reading, what is underneath theboredom seems to be more of a spiritual desolation or aridity. NY: Columbia University Press. The oneproblem with this reading is that Eliot did note that by the end of thepoem he did not care about understanding what he was trying to say.Further, as John Updike (1991) noted, he was primarily an auditory poetanyway, interested in voices and repetitions, rather than visual images andmeanings. Thesense is that Lil did not care enough, or was unable to rise to theoccasion of getting herself some new teeth. It needs to beregenerated. Yet, even here, the possibility of spiritualdesolation seems to exist. This is followed with a brief passage that might be afragment from Eliot's wife, suffering from nerves as she was. The first sectionseems to have much to do with emptiness and a kind of quietness. Eugenides, which also seems to indicate some degree of meaninglessness. TheNorton Anthology of English Literature. He asserted that in The Waste Land hewasn't even bothering to be sure he understood what he was saying. In some respects, this sounds more like depression than boredom.Perhaps it is both, and they are equally expressions of that lack ofmeaning and belief that people experienced after World War I.II. Like theshades in hell, they suffer from neither praise nor blame. Toward the end of the poem, Eliot uses the term "bore" again, but in acompletely different sense. Eliot started with a much longer work, which was edited byEzra Pound to its present size. The Burial of the Dead In this first section, the narrator sets the tone for the poem, notingthat April is the cruelest month because it presents us with the picture ofhope and regeneration, but we are unable to respond to it. T.S. The Waste LandIntroduction As the old Norton Anthology of English Literature stated, The WasteLand appears to be about spiritual dryness, about the inability ofindividuals and nations to hold on to beliefs that provide meaning fortheir lives and vitality for growth and creativity. Eliot also indicated that The Waste Land was a more complicated workthan much of his later material, mostly because he lacked experience andfacility with the language in the older poem. However, the theme of boredom receives its fullest expression in thissection of the poem with the encounter between the typist and young maleclerk. This encounter, although ending with sex apparently, ischaracterized by boredom, rather than passion, on the part of the youngwoman. Again,the language contributes to this sense with the use of words like"unheard," "nymphs are departed," "end my song." The nymphs have departedand left no forwarding address, and the river flows silently past, withnone of the detritus of civilization. (1931). NY: W.W. Odd jobs. (1963). The young man appears to be eager, but there is little sense thathe is eager because of his great love for the young woman. Instead, hisadvances seem calculating, rather than passionate. Edmund Wilson (1931) noted that Eliot's upbringing could be consideredas taking place in a type of wasteland. However, this is followed by asection that seems to contain more vitality. It seems to reflectthe ultimate boredom of meaninglessness. This hardly seems tohave been a boring time for Eliot. Eliot. It is also important to recognize that this poem is not read in itsinitial form.
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