View source for Objective Correlative

T.S. Eliot's idea of the objective correlative suggests that, in order for a poem to evoke emotion, it must employ an objective formula that will serve to produce the desired subjective response in the reader.  He maintains that the reader cannot be expected to respond appropriately unless the poet provides the necessary triggers through connotation, allusion, and a strategic use of imagery.  This suggests that there is, in fact, something of a "correct" way to view ''The Waste Land''--not necessarily as far as interpretation goes, but perhaps in emotional response.  The reader is meant to walk away with a certain bent of thinking.

Manjola Nasi, in her essay "Objective Correlatives of City and Places in T.S. Eliot’s the Waste Land," explains, "The reader could not be asked to feel or perceive an emotion without having a source to derive it from, and the various elements of the work itself, such as characters, their actions and the occurrences within the plot had to be justified by this same foundation."  She continues with a detailed analysis of the cityscapes in the poem, laying out the allusions, word usage, and imagery that produce at large "a culmination of despair that creates a suffocating feeling of hopelessness and inability to escape."

==References==
[http://www.mcser.org/images/stories/2_journal/mjss_may_2012/manjola_nasi.pdf Manjola Nasi: Objective Correlatives of City and Places in T.S. Eliot’s the Waste Land]

[http://books.google.com/books?id=SCfHnLwWg2MC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=%22Hamlet+and+His+Problems%22&source=web&ots=cq01aXo2KC&sig=gkcaDTGsWPk-1C-vh1f0MNMGRa4&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books: The Sacred Wood and Major Early Essays]