The Waste Land


Respected Readers,

As a part of our studies we discussed "The Waste Land" by T.S Eliot. This blog task is a part of our co-curricular activities of our department which is given on this blog

1) What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzche's views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?



Answer:  
The poem “The Waste Land” is based on Christianity and faith in god. Eliot is believer of god, he use so many myth in this poem. T.S.Eliot believes in backward looking which we can see in this poem “The Waste Land”. Here Eliot gave an example from History like Upanishad, Buddhism and Christianity. Here in the poem Eliot presented the past, present, and what modern things are. He was also mentioned symbol like ‘Red Rock’ which Symbolize Christianity. Third part of the poem in which he pointed out the Buddhism and in last part Upanishad Pointed was by Eliot. He also referred to Hanged Man means Jesus Christ. Friedrich Nietzsche Presents the concept of ‘The Ubermensch’, which means the man with superior powers, who justifies the existence of the human race, and also it, means that as a goal for humanity to set for itself. Here we can say that T S Eliot convey the idea of modern man with spiritual drought to sexual perversion. 

2) Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?


Answer: 
My view about the poem 'The Waste Land' T.S.Eliot the central theme of the poem is sexual perversion and spiritual degeneration also he mentioned that 'life in death, death in life'. ‘For Freud the most profound cause of confusion lay in the ‘Unbehagen in their culture of modern man ’. Here he mentioned about modern man or we can say that The Waste is a Modern epic. Sigmund Freud and Eliot both are apposite from each other. In this poem he talks about spiritual degradation and sexual perversion. He believes in ‘life in death and death in life’ the cycle of life.

3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?

Answer: 
Here In ‘The Waste Land’ we can see that Eliot use the examples from Indian concept in the fifth part of the poem (What the Thunder Said) like, Upanishads, Buddhism or in last line he used ‘Shanti... Shanti… Shanti.’ Which was used in Upanishads He used an example of river ‘Ganga’ also. As well as he used Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Major Themes and Issues in the Play Tughlaq by Girish Karnad

Image
  Major Themes and Issues in the Play  Idealistic Leadership   What makes the Sultan‘s character more fascinating is his paradoxical and complex nature. He is portrayed as ―a dreamer and a man of action, benevolent and cruel, devout and callous.‖ U.R. Anantha Murty remarks: ―Both Tughlaq and his enemies initially appear to be idealists; yet in the pursuit of the ideal, they perpetrate its opposite. The whole play is structured on these opposites: the ideal and the real: the divine aspiration and the deft intrigue.‖ These opposites constitute the main charm of the structure of Tughlaq. Tughlaq promises his Subjects to maintain ―justice, equality, progress and peace -- not just peace but a more purposeful life‖ ―without any consideration of might and weakness, religion or creed.‖ But to a great surprise he could not win the hearts of his public. He wants to give his ―beloved people‖ peace, freedom, justice and progress. He says that his people would witness how justice works
Read more

The Hunt by Mahashweta Devi

Image
‘The Hunt’ forms part of a collection published as  Imaginary Maps: Three Stories by Mahasweta Devi in 1995. The other two stories in the collection are namely ‘ Douloti the Bountiful’ and ‘Pterodactyl, Puran Sahay, and Pirtha. ’ All three stories describe a fictional rendition of situations that are very real in the lives of the tribal people. While ‘The Hunt’   is about a half tribal girl’s bold attempt to put a violent end to her personal exploitation as well as to the threat of ecological devastation, ‘Douloti ’  deals with the problem of bonded labour, particularly the women who are exploited endlessly and mercilessly through the system. The heart wrenching image at the end of the story with Douloti’s rotting and bleeding body covering the map of India raises many disturbing questions and speaks volumes for what independent India has failed to do for one sixth of its population. In Devi’s words “Decolonization has not reached the poor. That is why these things happen. Wo
Read more

The Old Woman- Joseph Campbell

Image
As a white candle In a holy place,  So is the beauty Of an aged face. As the spent radience Of the winter sun,  So is a woman With her travail done. Her brood gone from her, And her thoughts as still  As the waters Under a ruined mill.                   The poem 'The Old Woman' is written by Joseph Campbell. The poem is divided into 3 stanza. The meaning of the  poem is deeper than any romantic poem. The poem is very simple, realistic poem. The poet has given  the description  of old lady by different comparisons . It s very natural to see beauty in young women , but t is very understanding to describe the beauty of old woman.  It requires great imaginative power to see beauty in old age.                 In  the first stanza , the poet compares the old lady with the white candle . As the white candle in the holy place gives light and guided  the person who comes there. It is the symbol  of holy figure. Likewise the old lady's face  compared with the white c
Read more