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Analysis of the waste land
The influence of modernism in literature
Impact of the poetry of T. S. Eliot on modern anglophone poetry
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T.S. Eliot was a modern poet that was globally renowned for his contributions to poetry and the way that he envisioned society and managed to communicate those opinions through language. He had influenced many post modernists as well as fellow poets because of his indifference in the way that poetry had been set to be. He used language to develop patters in order to show how they can make sense as a whole once laid out instead of using the diction of the poetry to state ideas. T.S. Eliot had developed these poems every time, and he used his intuitive thinking to create poems that were very complex but could still release very clear ideas and thoughts. T.S. Eliot used many different skills and methods that he implemented into his poems, and this is shown throughout the progress of his life.
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) grew up in St. Louis up until he was 18. He then attended Harvard University and got his BA. It was there where he began developing his poetic skill. In December 1908, Eliot found a book that had changed his life forever. Eliot found the book “Arthur Symon’s The Symbolistic Movement in Literature” and this book introduced Eliot to the poetic works of Jules Laforgue (T.S. Eliot - Biographical. www.nobelprize.org ). Jules’ work gave Eliot his voice in poetry and literature, and during this time he joined the Harvard Literary Magazine: The Advocate. This helped Eliot develop his poetry into its unique style because Eliot then began writing more and more poetry after reading his work. Which further brought Eliot closer to using his techniques in his poetry. Later in his life, T.S. Eliot met his contemporary, Ezra Pound. She recognized the intellectual thought of Eliot at an instant, and she helped him publish some of his most...
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...the poem “The Waste Land” with a space between what the word would be which is “wasteland”. This can also represent how Eliot views modern society as a waste of land, as well as being a barren wasteland of culture and society. Eliot’s style and development is so precise that even a small hint of a pun in the title of one of his poems can relate to the entire product as a whole.
T.S. Eliot had a very distinct style of poetry, which was so innovative that people would keep uncovering new ideas from poems that he had written decades before. He is the reason that further proves that the poet develops the poetry because he used techniques that other poets hadn’t used before which makes him different, and that is reflected in his poetry. This is something that only poets can do, and how their views, opinions, and styles develop their own poetry, not the other way around.
(T.S. Eliot Quotes.) TS Eliot was not only a poet, but a poet that wanted to change his world. He was writing in the hopes that it would give his society a reality check that would encourage them to change themselves and make their lives more worthwhile. Through his themes of alienation, isolation, and giving an example of a decaying society, TS Eliot wanted to change his society.
...e state of waste is not perpetual, we can find strength and hope for a better future. The ability to convey these messages with such strength along with the ability to powerfully effect his audience and have a tangible effect on the world is what sets T. S. Eliot and The Wasteland apart, and truly gives his poetry the power to change the world.
Williamson, George. A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot; a Poem by Poem Analysis. New York:
During T. S. Eliot’s time many of his contemporaries including himself were in the custom of alluding to classic works of poetry. They incorporated references to notable texts like Dante. Eliot especially is a main perpetrator of alluding. Eliot has the ability create a picture for the reader and provide historical context to his works. A contemporary of Eliot, Pound, once said you should try to “be influenced by as many great artists as [they] can” (Pound 95). Eliot is following what Pound said by incorporating allusions in his works.
Mortal loss was more than just a threat at the time T.S. Eliot wrote The Waste
I think the first influence on his poetry was his first wife, Vivienne Haigh-Wood. Eliot married Vivienne to stay in England. Their relationship became the storyboard for a play called, Tom and Viv which was made in 1984 which then was adapted to a film in 1994. Vivienne was a great inspiration to Eliot. When Vivienne had an affair with Bertrand Russell, Eliot used this happening in one of the parts in his poem called Mr.Apollinax and Whispers of Immortality depicting Vivienne as a succubus like woman (Not Crazy after All These Years).
The tone of the poem is described as a weary, self-depressed outlook. He is uncertain about life and his place in it. T.S Eliot uses the
In his poem "The Waste Land," T.S. Eliot employs a water motif, which represents both death and rebirth. This ties in with the religious motif, as well as the individual themes of the sections and the theme of the poem as a whole, that modern man is in a wasteland, and must be reborn.
“In Tradition and the Individual Talent”, T.S. Eliot affirms that the greatest writers are those who are conscious of the writers who came before, as if they write with a sense of continuity. T.S Eliot addresses literary tradition as well as poetic tradition, and states that it is important to focus on “significant emotion, emotion which has its life in the poem and not in the history of the poet” (18). In this sense, the importance of tradition in poetry relies on the fact that a poet must be aware of the achievements of his predecessors, for, as we shall see in the case of Stevens and Ashbery, “the emotion of art is impersonal. And the poet cannot reach this impersonality without surrendering himself wholly to the work to be done. And he is not likely to know what is to be done unless he lives in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past, unless...
Moody, Anthony David. The Cambridge Companion to T.S. Eliot. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 121. Print.
There are a number of these images in the works. Many of Picasso's are fairly evident the burning man in the right corner for example or the severed head on the bottom. These show the devastation of the world, as we know it. Eliot has recurring images not unlike these in The Waste Land. Eliot continually refers to the unnatural lack of water in the wasteland or the meaningless broken sex in the society of his day.
T.S. Eliot distinguished what was incomplete about the aesthetics of society and overcame his introverted nature to bring the rest of the world to the realization of what needed to be changed in order to make their lives righteous. He uncovered that many individuals lose their true personalities to thoughts that they have to be a certain way or fit a certain stereotype. His work communicated that one cannot be completely free until they understand and believe in whatever their personal meaning of life is; Eliot found cultural diversity and truth to be of great importance. Eliot taught an important lesson that virtually anything can be accomplished and overcome with the right beliefs, perseverance, and determination to succeed.
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is an elaborate and mysterious montage of lines from other works, fleeting observations, conversations, scenery, and even languages. Though this approach seems to render the poem needlessly oblique, this style allows the poem to achieve multi-layered significance impossible in a more straightforward poetic style. Eliot’s use of fragmentation in The Waste Land operates on three levels: first, to parallel the broken society and relationships the poem portrays; second, to deconstruct the reader’s familiar context, creating an individualized sense of disconnection; and third, to challenge the reader to seek meaning in mere fragments, in this enigmatic poem as well as in a fractious world.
"The point of view which I am struggling to attack is perhaps related to the metaphysical theory of the substantial unity of the soul: for my meaning is, that the poet has, not a personality' to express, but a particular medium, which is only a medium and not a personality, in which impressions and experiences combine in peculiar and unexpected ways."
T.S Eliot, widely considered to be one of the fathers of modern poetry, has written many great poems. Among the most well known of these are “The Waste Land, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which share similar messages, but are also quite different. In both poems, Eliot uses various poetic techniques to convey themes of repression, alienation, and a general breakdown in western society. Some of the best techniques to examine are ones such as theme, structure, imagery and language, which all figure prominently in his poetry. These techniques in particular are used by Eliot to both enhance and support the purpose of his poems.