WASTE

Thomas Stearns Elliot

• American-born British poet,
essayist, playright
• 1905-1965
• Modernist poetry employing
fragmented narratives
• The Waste Land (1922)
 Inspiration for The Waste Land
• Written in the aftermath • He had mental health
of World War I struggles and breakdown
• A period of profound of his marriage to
cultural and societal Vivienne Haigh-Wood
upheaval • The Waste Land reflects
• Eliot was deeply affected Eliot’s disillusionment
by the damages of war with modern society
 “The Waste Land” Poem Sections

Section I: The Burial of the Dead

“April is the cruellest of month”

• the poem begins by describing April, usually symbolizing
new beginnings because of the start of spring, but here
describe as a “cruel” time
• Spring = revives painful memories from the past
 “The Waste Land” Poem Sections

Section I: The Burial of the Dead

“Winter kept us warm”

• Winter, in contrast, is portrayed as a time of
forgetfulness
• The snow covers up the harshness of life
Section I: The Burial of the Dead

• The narrative then shifts to a personal memory of

someone named Marie:
a. recalls a past summer and the innocence of childhood
b. sledding with her cousin and feeling a sense of
freedom in the mountains
• This contrasts with the rest of the section, which quickly
returns to the barrenness of modern life
Section I: The Burial of the Dead
• Next shifts to the fortune teller Madame Sosostris
introduces a symbolic reading of tarot cards, foretelling
death, mystery, and disillusionment
• Her predictions, filled with enigmatic figures like the
drowned sailor and the mysterious Balledonna
• Emphasizes the theme of confusion and a lack of clear
guidance in the modern world.
Section I: The Burial of the Dead
Ending of Section:
• Vision of an “unreal city” (London)
• Where crowds of people move through their daily lives in isolation,
disconnected from each other
• The speaker meets an old friend from the battle of Mylae and
cryptically asks about a dead body planted in his garden,
questioning whether it will grow
• This symbolizes cycle of death and rebirth, with a deep sense of
uncertainty and futility.
 Section I: The Burial of the Dead
Summary:
-Reflects themes of -This section uses both
• alienation personal memory and
• the collapse of meaning mythological allusions to
• fragmentation of modern life depict a world struggling with
loss and disillusionment.
 Section II: A Game of Chess
Eliot presents two contrasting scenes:
• Scene 1: The Opulent, Tense Room
• Scene 2: The Pub and Lil’s Domestric Struggles

Both Scenes depicts fragmentation of human relationships and

the disintegration of communication in modern life.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 1: The Opulent, Tense Room

• The first part takes place in an extravagant, suffocating
room where a woman, surrounded by luxury, is overcome
by anxiety.
• The elaborate description of her surroundings—jewels,
perfumes, and antique art—creates an atmosphere of
excess and artificiality.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 1: The Opulent, Tense Room

• The woman’s beauty and wealth contrast with the
emptiness and tension between her and her companion.
• She repeatedly demands conversation, growing more
frantic as she questions him, but he remains silent.
• This interaction reflects a deep disconnection and
alienation within their relationship.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 1: The Opulent, Tense Room

• The woman's growing anxiety and fear symbolize the
larger sense of emotional fragmentation in the modern
world, where communication breaks down, and intimacy is
replaced by anxiety and uncertainty.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 2: The Pub and Lil’s Domestic Struggles

• The second scene shifts dramatically to a more casual,
working-class environment, where a conversation
between two women takes place in a pub.
• One woman gives blunt, judgmental advice to Lil, who is
struggling with her appearance and health after an
abortion.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 2: The Pub and Lil’s Domestic Struggles

• The speaker urges Lil to make herself more attractive for
her husband, Albert, who has just returned from the war.
• The conversation reveals the harsh realities of domestic
life, highlighting the societal pressures on women to fulfill
certain roles for their husbands.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Scene 2: The Pub and Lil’s Domestic Struggles

• The repetition of "HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME" (as the
pub prepares to close) adds to the sense of time running
out, not just for the night...

... but for Lil's relationship,

health, and life itself.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Themes
• Alienation:
• The woman in the first scene and Lil in the second feel
trapped and alienated, either by their wealth, their social
role, or their bodies. The inability to connect with others,
both emotionally and physically, mirrors the larger theme
of alienation in the modern world.
 Section II: A Game of Chess

Themes
• Routine and Disillusionment:
• The repetitive nature of both scenes, with their dull
routines—chess, drinking tea, closing the pub—
underscores the monotony and lack of purpose that
pervades modern life.
 Section III: The Fire Sermon
This section draws on various sources, including myth, history,
and contemporary urban life, to depict a modern world in
decline, filled with meaningless, fragmented experiences.

Themes in this section:

• Moral and Spiritual decay
• Disconnection
• Sexual disillusionment
 Section III: The Fire Sermon
Opening Scene: The Barren Riverbanks
• The section begins with a desolate scene by the Thames River.
• The remnants of life are gone, and the river is polluted and
abandoned, reflecting the decay of nature and culture.
• The nymphs—symbols of natural beauty and vitality—have
disappeared, leaving behind only traces of modern, careless waste.
• Eliot contrasts this emptiness with nostalgic references to the past,
suggesting that the spiritual and emotional richness of earlier times
has been lost.
 Section III: The Fire Sermon
Tiresias and the Modern Sexual Encounter
• The central figure in this section is Tiresias, the blind prophet from
Greek mythology, who has experienced both male and female life.
• Tiresias observes a mundane, depressing sexual encounter between
a typist and a young, indifferent clerk.
• The typist returns home from work to a lifeless, routine existence.
• The young man arrives, takes advantage of the situation, and leaves
without any emotional connection.
 Section III: The Fire Sermon
Spiritual Decay and the Buddhist Fire Sermon
• The section's title refers to Buddha's Fire Sermon, which teaches
renunciation of desire and attachment.
• Throughout the section, Eliot emphasizes the pervasive desire and
lust that corrupt modern life, contrasting it with the spiritual
emptiness that results.
• The repetition of "burning" in the final lines suggests the destruction
caused by unchecked desires, both personal and societal.
 Section III: The Fire Sermon
Conclusion
• In "The Fire Sermon," Eliot presents a world where human
connections have become shallow, relationships are
mechanical, and life is governed by materialism and desire.
• The section reflects on the moral and spiritual decline of
modern society, with echoes of past grandeur and
mythological references only serving to highlight the
emptiness of the present.
 Section IV: Death by Water
• Describes the death of Phlebas the Phoenician, a merchant who
has drowned and been forgotten by the living world.
• As Phlebas’s body is consumed by the sea, he loses all
awareness of earthly concerns, such as the cries of seagulls
and the fortunes of his trade.
• His body decays under the water, while the motion of the sea
evokes a flash of memories from his life.
• Inevitability of death and the futility of human endeavors.
 Section IV: Death by Water

• Eliot warns that, regardless of one's status or background,

death comes for all.
• Phlebas’s story is a reminder to reflect on mortality and the
transitory nature of worldly pursuits, urging readers to
consider the deeper spiritual implications of life and death.
• The image of the sea, vast and indifferent, reinforces the
theme of decay and the unstoppable passage of time.
 Section V: What the Thunder Said

• Eliot describes a desolate, arid landscape devoid of water,

symbolizing spiritual and physical drought.
• The imagery of rock, barren mountains, and dry thunder
evokes a sense of hopelessness, where life struggles to
survive, and humans are reduced to ghostly figures.
• The land is lifeless, and the agony of existence is
palpable.
 Section V: What the Thunder Said
• The section shifts between visions of destruction and renewal,
invoking the fall of great cities like Jerusalem, Athens, and London,
symbolizing the collapse of civilization.
• Amid this desolation, the thunder speaks three Sanskrit words—Datta
(give), Dayadhvam (sympathize), and Damyata (control)—offering a
path to redemption and renewal.
• These words emphasize the importance of generosity, compassion,
and self-control as ways to restore order in a fragmented world.
 Section V: What the Thunder Said

• The section ends with images of personal reflection

and hope, despite the ruins surrounding the speaker.
• The final call for "peace" reflects the desire for
spiritual salvation and the possibility of rebuilding from
the wreckage.
 THEMES

ALIENATION AND THE QUEST FOR

FRAGMENTATION IDENTITY

DISILLUSIONMENT
WEARY
Langston Hughes
• American-born poet and
social activist
• 1901-1967
• Central figure of the Harlem
Renaisssance
• Combines jazz, blues rhythms
with poetry
 THEMES
RACIAL PRIDE ALIENATION AND
The African- FRAGMENTATION
American
Experience and
Quest for Identity
• The speaker describes watching a Black musician perform a
slow, melancholic blues song on Lenox Avenue
• The musician sways to the rhythm, playing a mournful tune on
an old piano, with his sorrowful voice expressing deep
loneliness and despair.
• As he sings about having no one in the world and his weariness
with life, his foot taps rhythmically in time with the music.
• The performance continues late into the night, with the
music reflecting his inner sadness.
• Eventually, he stops playing and goes to bed, but the blues
music lingers in his mind as he sleeps, symbolizing his
emotional exhaustion.
The Pain and Beauty of Black Art
• “The Weary Blues” is about the power and pain of black art