The Waste Land, by TS Eliot, has come to be considered as the quintessential poetry of the Modernist canon, reflects a widespread sense of disenchantment with the existing condition of events in contemporary civilization, particularly post-World War II Europe, presenting itself metaphorically through the Holy... Wasteland.
In it, Eliot compares the ruins of ancient civilizations with modern society's destruction of its own environment, concluding that "the world is now one vast cemetery". He also asserts that human beings are inherently flawed and urges his readers to seek salvation beyond the material world. These ideas fit well with the ethos of Modernism, which rejected traditional poetic forms in favor of more experimental styles.
As well as being influential in art and literature, Modernism had a major impact on other disciplines including architecture, music, and film. The industrial revolution had created a need for new materials for use in construction projects. In response, artists began to use waste products from industry in their work. For example, Eliot used paper from books when creating his poems, while William Morris employed themes from medieval art in his designs for furnishing homes. Together, these artists formed a movement known as the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Later in the 20th century, another wave of innovation called Postmodernism arose, which reacted against many aspects of Modernism. Its main influence was critical theory, which seeks to understand how power relationships affect what can be said in language.
T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land is widely recognized as one of the most important poems of the twentieth century and a foundational work of modernist poetry. It was written during April-June 1922 for Thomas Stearns Eliot, an American poet who had recently divorced his first wife and was living in London. The poem consists of 39 sections, each describing a section of the wasteland near Cairo where ancient monuments are now buried under sand.
Eliot wrote that he intended the wasteland to be interpreted "as the dry bones are said to be when Moses comes along". He also stated that he did not consider the poem to have a definite end, instead calling it a "mosaic" composed of different parts that together make up a complete picture.
In addition to being one of the most famous poets of the 20th century, T. S. Eliot was also a prominent critic and essayist. In a 1948 article for The New York Times entitled "What Is Expected of Poetry?", he argued that poetry has an ethical responsibility to speak truth to power and offer hope in times of despair. He also claimed that good poetry makes us feel happy and bad poetry makes us sad.
T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" is a touchstone of contemporary poetry; it may perhaps be the most well-known modern poem. Its style and substance both reflect the modernist literary movement. We couldn't call "The Waste Land" a story or a narrative in the classic sense. But we could say that it tells one continuous narrative within its various stanzas, using different voices to do so.
Eliot wrote several poems before he settled on "The Waste Land". He first published "Preludes: A Series of Poems" in 1919–21. They deal with various subjects, including death, marriage, philosophy, mythology, and history. Many are based on poems by William Blake. The title "Prelude" indicates that they are explorations of poetic possibilities prior to settling on a final version.
In 1922, two years after publishing his poems on paper bags at the opening of the London Library, Eliot completed "The Waste Land". It was first performed by John Quinn and his wife Mary Barnard Edwards at Quinn's house on Christmas Day of that year. The audience included Eliot, who acted as poet-in-residence at Quinn's household, and other friends. "The Waste Land" quickly became popular with readers and critics alike. It has been described as a diary, an album of pictures, a collection of fragments drawn from various parts of the world with no clear connection except that everything relates to lost love.
An Examination of the Waste Land The Waste Land may be seen as a poem about brokenness and loss, and Eliot's repeated references to the First World Conflict imply that the war played a role in causing this societal, psychological, and emotional collapse. This idea is further supported by lines such as "A hole in the world/That eats men like worms at its mouth" and "An age begins/When each man must choose his own life".
Eliot also uses waste land as a symbol for something much more substantial than just broken bones and torn flesh. He seems to be saying that this particular piece of land is so full of sin and evil that it can corrupt even the most innocent person.
Finally, the phrase "a patch of waste land" occurs several times in the poem; these patches of land are depicted as being completely devoid of life or activity until someone (or something) comes along and changes all that. Thus, we can conclude that waste land has symbolic value because it represents everything that is wrong with society. There is no good in anything, only corruption waiting to happen.
Waste land is significant because it shows how destructive humanity can be. Humans will often destroy what they consider to be useless, including natural beauty spots. It is important to remember that waste land can never be regenerated once it has been destroyed.