The Fire Sermon: An In-Depth Look at Modernist Poetry

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FCA's

1. Three paragraph response

2. Examples and citations form the poem (3 minimum)

3. Sophisticated language

The Fire Sermon - an in-depth look at modernist poetry

Humanity relies on its life lessons and morals to carry itself through time. Different ideals and points of view on human life mix and provide the diverse culture that humanity owns today, and humanity can thank its ancestors for creating the preaches, speeches, literature pieces, and even religious sermons that carry these morals and lessons throughout generations. Famous poets have created beautiful poems by quoting and alluding to beautiful pieces of literature that contain these teachings about life. In T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland" (III. Section) The Fire Sermon, Elliot alludes to Buddha's Fire Sermon and his own ideals on human society to create a poetic masterpiece.

The title the Fire Sermon is an allusion to Buddha's Fire Sermon, in which Buddha asks his followers to give up earthly passions, which is symbolized by fire, and also to seek freedom form earthly objects. Throughout the poem multiple unfruitful sexual acts occur, and they contrast both the Sermon and the polluted Thames river described in the first paragraphs of the poem. They fit in with the idea of the Sermon, because Buddha is basically asking not only to give up earthly passions but with this sex as well, Elliot does not agree with this and thus puts small scenes in which fertility is impossible. The river is polluted because without fertility a renewal of land and family in Elliot's sense cannot happen so the beautiful river that is Thames, is reduced to a filthy polluted mess infested with ...

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...at the end was then taken over by the earthly passions he was told to let go of and Buddha is unable to do anything about it except conclude and allude to his own sermon by saying burning at the very end. This section if full of allusions and flaws in human society. Elliot uses foreign ideals to convey is morals and point of view of Buddha's Fire Sermon and those of fertility. He uses these specific themes to contrast those of his time during war. He questions if life will be able to continue as it was after the harsh bombings in England and the war in Europe. Moreover if the sexes will begin to converse once more and get out of a time where talking wasn't popular as a war was happening right above their heads. His poetry conveys his morals and beliefs with perfection in his work and shows how a famous poet takes on life in the form of a writer.

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