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Caption: "No middle way out of the waste land?" |
T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land:
The Triumph of Authenticity over Form
Perhaps the preeminence of the poet
T. S. Eliot in American literary canon is best illustrated by a quote from
Norman Frye; “A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested
in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance,
but he must be read” (“T. S. Eliot”). It is undeniable that Eliot had an
immense influence on 20th century literature, and among contemporary
scholars, his magnum opus The Waste Land is
considered central to the modernist movement.
However,
it is ironic that T. S. Eliot should be viewed as an iconic poet, when in his
day and age his work was so iconoclastic. When The Waste Land first appeared in print in 1922, it shattered poetic
convention and sent shock waves through the highbrow literary community (Rainey
9). 1922 was several years before the filmmaker Eisenstein first pioneered the
use of montage to stitch together narrative, but in The Waste Land Eliot was already exploring the technique in writing
(Kaveney). A hallmark of modernist works such as The Waste Land and, nearly a decade later, The 42nd Parallel, are their use of polyphony. These
works are known for abandoning the use of a single, well-developed protagonist
in favor of giving voice to the multitudes, and The Waste Land is cluttered with a vastly amorphous cast of
characters and narrators. Eliot draws from classical canon, invoking Agamemnon,
Tiresias, and Dante, but also strikes a contrast by juxtaposing them with nameless
everymen who live comparative menial lives (Kaveney). Some sections of The Waste Land, such as The Fire Sermon and the latter half of A Game of Chess, can be seen as T. S. Eliot’s experiment with the concept of
“aestheticizing the crowd.” To summarize his embrace of vernacular over
orthodox diction, Eliot writes that; “A poet must take as his material his own
language as it is actually spoken around him” (“T. S. Eliot”). This approach is reminiscent of Dos Passos’s
aim to articulate authentic speech in the U.S.A in The 42nd Parallel.
Like
many other writers of the movement, T. S. Eliot uses various techniques to portray
a sense of unease about the state of modern society. The early 20th
century were a time when progress, technology, and capitalism ran rampant, and
modernists frequently explored their effects on human affairs. Eliot, in
particular, criticized the amorality and hollowness of modern life in sections
of the poem such as A Game of Chess and
The Fire Sermon (Kaveney). The loose chronology of events in The Waste Land is another modernist
trademark, yet Eliot takes it to great extremes by shifting rapidly between
antiquity and the current day. In the section The Fire Sermon, he spends a few stanzas narrating from the
perspective of a contemporary man walking along the Thames, but jumps to
Phoenician times in the next section, Death
by Water. Through this mechanism, Eliot creates a longing for the cultural
richness of past ages, and establishes a sense of disillusionment and pessimism
about current times (Rainey 113).
Upon
publication, The Waste Land was
recognized as a revolutionary work that upended expectations of what
constituted poetry. Even today, its scope and abstract societal commentary can easily
bewilder someone unfamiliar with Eliot and other early modernist authors. But
once a reader develops an understanding and appreciation of modernism, T. S.
Eliot’s writing is revealed to be subtle, intellectual, and brilliant.
Works Cited
Kaveney, Roz. "TS Eliot's The Waste Land: The Radical Text of a
Wounded Culture." The Guardian.
Guardian News and Media,
17 Apr. 2014. Web. 14. Sept. 2016.
Rainey, Lawrence S. Revisiting The Waste Land. New Haven:
Yale University Press. 2005. Print.
"T. S. Eliot." Poetry Foundation. Poetry
Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
Image Credit:
Artzybasheff, Boris. T. S. Eliot. 1950. TIME.
TIME Magazine. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
To read the poem The Waste Land, click here.
I think it is very interesting that our two presentations this week include Eliot, and, as the other blog post puts it, a Modernist author, Crane, which puts himself in opposition to him. Here, Eliot fits rather well the "typical" definition of modernism, including distorted time, and an overall loss of meaning, denouncing, as you state, "amorality and hollowness". The Wasteland is thus, with good reason, one of the most famous Modernist works, as it depicts the most crucial peculiarities of the movement.
ReplyDelete"The Waste Land" is definitely one of the most prominent works in the Modernist Movement, and I appreciate the fact that you highlighted particular facts that are representative of the groundbreaking artists and writers. When I first read it, I was totally confused by the symbols and imagery. I hope to strengthen my understanding of it through your presentation tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI think this post on T.S Eliot was particularly well chosen because of how it adds to our understanding of modernism. The works of Eliot were considered so revolutionary because they challenged the classical more traditional forms of writing and broke the traditional rules. Not only does the methodology and manner of writing stand out as different but also the subject matter. The sense of pessimism which is talked about in this post is I think, particularly important in that it fits the modernist mold of a generation of people challenging the world around them and developing a pessimism of generations before them and the world. Eliot certainly fits in with the writers we have studied so far in the less traditional manner of writing that was indeed revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteT.S Eliot goes so well with the theme of uneasiness of the modernist time. His choice of forcing the reader into an uneasiness with his odd choice of perspective - for instance within The Burial of the Dead how it seems you are a killer speaking to a childhood friend (though I could be misinterpreting this poem completely), or within Death by Water - how race and life has no meaning once you are dead. All of this follows the uneasiness that Stein and Dos Passos seemingly linger on through the breaking of traditional writing form, such as Dos Passos and his Camera Eyes.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to hear you delve deeper into the connections you will be talking about tomorrow.
I love how you related Eliot's piece with what we are reading from Dos Passos. I think that perhaps Dos Passos's writing is even a bit more provocative and revolutionary than Eliot's, because poetry has always had the connotation of being artful and more figurative. Prose is more structured, plot-driven, and emphasizes characters, and thus in my opinion has less room for variety. However, both writers break tradition in ways that had not been considered before, and are both deservedly honored in your post.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have yet to read any of Eliot's works, your analysis of his writings and their impact on modernism has certainly peaked my interest. I like how you mentioned his use of polyphony, abandoning from the norm of focusing on a single protagonist, which gives the reader more perspectives to consider when reading such a novel. I look forward to your presentation tomorrow to learn what to look out for and appreciate in Eliot's works when I do read them.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you broke down the specific parts of Eliot's poem that make it so different from the conventions of the time. In particular, I thought the connection between the way Eliot plays with time and his message about the malaise of the era was interesting, and it definitely helped me get a better sense of what was going on the second time I read through the poem! Also, I wasn't previously aware that polyphony was something that became popular in the modernist era, but from reading your post I understand why it would have, especially considering the emphasis on the everyman in modernist literature.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of Elliot's lack of optimism for the future was very thorough. I also found it interesting how The Waste Land has a recurring theme of the future of sexuality and family - something that many writers and poets were analyzing. In A Game of Chess, the conversation between the narrator and Lil is quite intriguing. The woman seems to have lost a number of children, signifying a breakdown of the family structure as times were changing. The relationship between Lil and her husband also seems very strange. Elliot definitely creates a mood of uneasiness, as you astutely pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI like how you highlighted the use of a literary montage, since today we do mainly think of this device as an over-used trope in film. I think it is employed well by both Eliot in The Waste Land and Dos Passos in The 42nd Parallel to create a voice for the masses, and to create a feeling of unease with the reader, as you mentioned. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we are accustomed to the resolution that comes with the traditional narrative arc, and this device, in true modernist style, takes a big step away from that more traditional form.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how well this piece ties in with the modernist movement as we have studied it so far, especially in that it goes against the status quo. T.S. Eliot pushed the boundaries of poetry the same way that modernist artists pushed the boundaries of what people thought should be considered art. I particularly like the way you thoroughly explored the decomposition of time in Eliot's work, as it is very relevant to the way time is decomposed and mixed around in both Stein's work and Dos Passos' "The 42nd Parallel". Lastly, we have discussed in class how the modernist movement is rejecting the past ideals and values and is painting a less certain, perhaps more pessimistic view of the world. To that end, I appreciated the fact that you pointed out that although Eliot is pessimistic about his time, he also jumps back and forth between his present time and past ages, where he shows appreciation for the "cultural richness" they cultivated, something that Stein or Dos Passos do not do in their works.
ReplyDelete