Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions
From The Waste Land Wiki
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| − | + | ==Introduction== | |
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| + | :The mythic method, a term coined by Eliot, emphasizes myths, literary allusions, and archetypes to portray an accurate image of modernity. Such archetypes within The Waste Land illuminate the darker tones of the modern conviction. Each section includes specific archetypes that interweave and compliment secondary themes and allusions. From the beginning, Eliot utilizes the mythic method in order to inscribe meaning to and make sense of the chaotic post-war mentality of Europe, as well as his own endeavors as an artist. | ||
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| + | :The dedication reads “For Ezra Pound. Il miglior fabbro,” which directly quotes Dante Alighieri’s dedication to the Provencal poet, Arnault Daniel, thus equating Eliot’s endeavors to Alighieri’s, and Daniel’s prowess to Pound. By looking at the elements of the preserved past, specifically in its cultural, literary and historical figures, Eliot intends to “shore up” the world against the ruin assured by the psychological trauma and disillusionment of the post-war period. The breakdown of meaning belies the underlying solidity of a unified “mythology” of a shared European culture and cultural identity. | ||
| + | The epigraph to “The Waste Land” presents an excellent example of Eliot’s use of a single cultural unit, with varied and highly colored meanings, to proscribe many meanings to the structure of the poem as a whole. | ||
| + | :::“For on one occasion I myself saw, with my own eyes, the Cumaean Sibyl | ||
| + | :::hanging in a cage, and when some boys said to her: | ||
| + | :::‘Sibyl, what do you want?’ she replied, ‘I want to die.’” | ||
| + | :The quotation, about the Cumaean Sibyl, is hearsay—a retelling of a telling of a myth—which adds to the conversational, unstable feeling of the poem. A character of Petronius’ Satyricon recounts the tale, probably as a way of displaying his knowledge of Greek, since he seems to be foppish pedant, as evidenced by his prior conflation of Hercules with Ulysses. Operating under this interpretation, the epigraph acts as a humorous concession to readers who might thing Eliot’s work pedantic, considering its sizable inclusion of foreign language and regurgitated rhetoric. | ||
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| + | :However, by looking at the legacy of the Cumaean Sibyl, “The Waste Land” also becomes a poetic prophecy, with divine implications, and Eliot becomes a selfless prophet-poet. The Cumaean Sibyl wrote all of her prophecies in Greek hexameter verse and left them outside of her cave to be collected or discarded to the elements. Likewise, Eliot seems to be offering his work, regardless of his possible reception, with the same fervor and depth of meaning. Further, Christians often cited the Cumaean Sibyl as foretelling the coming of Christ, so by comparing himself to Sibyl, in a time of crisis, he also seems to indicate that he might have knowledge that could lead to social salvation, if not to a messiah figure. | ||
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| + | :Finally, very simply put, the Cumaean Sibyl underscores the recurring themes of the poem in a subtle way, drawing upon Sibyl as the symbol of social deterioration. When Apollo, representing refinement and culture, asks Sibyl to give up her virginity, thus her authenticity, she wishes for a longevity matching the number of grains of sand she could hold in her hand. Like sand in an hourglass, however, Sibyl’s time slowly slides away, as she feels to wish for eternal youth, which might here be associated with continuing relevancy or regeneration. Faced with long decay, Sibyl wishes for death. The deterioration of fertile beauty applies both to the myth and to the culture in Eliot’s metaphor, and the obsession fertility, infertility, rituals involving transactions with gods, salvation, prophecy, and many more themes continue throughout the poem as a whole. | ||
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| + | :In the first section of “the Waste Land,” titled “The Burial of the Dead,” “the Dead” do not rest easy, and the living go about as though dead. In this case, beauty and meaning deteriorates as those willing to uphold it are buried, and those who can uphold it wish to be buried. April’s showers mix “memory and desire” for the dead buried under the ground, even as roots and rain rip apart the remainders of their flesh (lines 1-7). In lines 19-30, Biblical references indicate that those who forget God, as the veterans of the first World War most inevitably did, grow without having any support, they are like plants who seek to root in stone (lines 19-20, Job 8:16-17). | ||
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| + | :However, by alluding to the reader as “son of man,” (line 20), Eliot invests the reader with a powerful, if daunting power. “Son of man” was a title given to both Ezekiel the prophet, and to Jesus Christ—giving the reader the power of prophecy, and the power to save civilization. In Ezekiel 2, God assures the “son of man” that if he will only stand up and take on the burden, he will be able to commune with God; however, when Ezekiel does so, he finds out that his messages are only of woe. The message seems to be that man lives amongst a “heap of broken images,” (line 22) the fallen idols of civilization, and has strayed from the high path of holiness which has incurred God’s wrath (Ezekiel 6). | ||
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| + | :In essence, it seems to be saying that man has brought about his own fate. To those who are not dead, “the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief” (line 23), just as in Ecclesiastes 12:5, where those close to death—usually the old—find nothing of worth in the world. The same book of Ecclesiastes also speaks of mourners in the streets, and the chapter ends with a teacher declaring everything “meaningless,” both of which reflect the post-war apathy of society. Only the “red rock” (lines 25-26) offers any shelter, as either a hiding place from God’s wrath (Isaiah 2), or, it represents a messianic king figure who can save civilization (Isaiah 32). | ||
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| + | :Further, by looking at the latter half of Isaiah 32, we begin to see a theme that becomes important to the work—the failure of women to rejuvenate men, and of betrayal in general. The allusions to Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde (lines 31-34, 42) also underscore the failings of women to save ailing manhood. The selections emphasize Isolde’s absence when Tristan lies dying from a wound, and only Isolde’s magic can heal him. This was an important post-war theme, because traditionally the stability of families rested upon the activity of women, but because men were shell-shocked, violent, lustful, and wayward, structures fell apart and women bore the brunt of the burden. | ||
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| + | :Moving forward, the section A Game of Chess acts as a commentary to the inevitable downfall of man. Using the biblical references to instill this message, Eliot’s allusion to ‘’Paradise Lost’’, an epic poem by John Milton that retells the story of Adam and Eve, reflects the downfall of distinguished religious figures to the demise of humanity. The deceitful serpent, in this case, signifies the war, encompassing the loss of life, not only in a literal sense, but also in a sense that none of the soldiers returning home resumed life as before. Their Eden was lost. Much like the story of Adam and Eve, the world was forever changed, as was the psychological state of humanity. Knowledge killed paradise; witness of the horrors of warfare killed reality. | ||
| + | Beyond biblical references, Eliot further utilizes the mythic method by alluding to the mythologies of the Aeneid, Cleopatra and Antony, and Philomel. Each story ends in tragedy. This is shown via Dido succumbing to her frenzied love, Cleopatra and Antony falling for their ‘love’, and Philomel for being brutally raped. Each is an image of destruction, showing an end to their personal lives as they know it. At the same time it is a vindictive glorification of these destructions like the begging about Cleopatra sitting in a beautiful throne. Yet all this beauty is to waste as the war is something not beautiful but terrible. It is a reoccurring theme that can be found throughout the poem. | ||
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| + | :Returning to a more spiritual approach, Eliot taps into Buddhist teachings in order to relate past philosophical doctrines to the modern state of despair. The title of section three The Fire Sermon alludes to Buddha’s teachings regarding the burning of passions and vices. Buddha preaches and declares the burning of sensory body parts, leading his disciples, the Bhikkus, to be liberated from their passions. Eliot borrows this idea and distorts it. Beyond the title itself, the fire sermon remains an underlying message in the third section, blanketing every scene and narrative shift. | ||
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| + | :The incorporation of Buddha’s sermon offers a plethora of interpretations. The implication of historical relevancy is existent, to be sure, but rather than validating the sermon, the text virtually inverts Buddhist thought. While the sermon depicts a constructive idea of the emancipation from worldly emotions, Eliot relates the loss of passion with more negative connotations. Burning, and begging for God to “pluck” him out, one of the narrators within the text associates the modern feeling of hopelessness and agony to the sermon. These emotions blaze powerfully throughout modern literature as a result of World War I and distinguish this literary style from its precursors. | ||
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| + | :The Fire Sermon itself adds another depth to Eliot’s work. Buddha’s sermon parallels another renowned sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus preaches to his disciples. Jesus praises and blesses those who suffer for righteousness. He too yearns for his disciples to achieve deliverance from earthly passions. Nevertheless, Eliot upsets the sermon, but in this instance, the contrasting message assimilates religious undertones. Similarly, the religious undertones are reversed to portray the religious doubt characteristic of the modern mentality. Despite the frequent biblical allusions, the characters and context imply an absent god, unresponsive to the horrors of modern life, but the repetition of religious references mirrors the human tendency to cling to faith in times of hardship. | ||
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| + | :“Death by Water,” in turn, upsets the notion of baptism as a gentle cleansing of sin, and shows that humankind has gone too far to indulge in such petty repentance. Even the extreme case of Phlebas the Phoenician does not seem to allow forgiveness. Under the sea, currents of seawater wash his flesh away, and as he remains there, fully conscious though dead, he enters the “whirlpool” of remembrance, going through the “stages of his age and youth” (lines 315-318). As a Phoenician, he was probably a merchant, considering the historical fame of Phoenician merchants, and thus perhaps represents the purgatory of the middle class—striving for money yet finding no solace in their wealth. Eliot, however, indicates that it does not matter which class or social standing one holds, because according to Romans 3, as he refers to in line 319, ‘gentile or Jew,’ all suffer the wrath of God. | ||
| + | Though “What the Thunder Said” contains the most obvious overtures to Eastern mythology and religion, it also contains perhaps the most Biblical sentiment. Damyata, Datta, Dayadhvam, mean give, be compassionate, take control, giving an obvious schema for the preservation of civilization. However, it may also be an allusion to the ascent of Christ into Heaven, where he gave the word unto man, was crucified in order to take their sins unto himself (the ultimate act of compassion), and then ascended into Heaven to help administer the world (with some variation). | ||
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| + | :References in lines 322-330, to John 18:3 and Luke 22:44 show that any messiah figure will undergo a great many betrayals, since these narrate the denials by Peter, the selection of Barabbas over Jesus by the Jews, and the ultimate betrayal of Judas Iscariot. In essence, these embody the refutation of truth and the embodiment of denial—a relevant contemporary problem. However, after such a refutation, and after the act of compassion, which maybe refers to the publication of one’s ideas in this case, the messiah figure becomes a legend and beacon of the power of truth, “walking” with his audience, as in lines 360-366. | ||
| + | Instead of being crucified, however, the hero that Eliot suggests must enter the “Chapel Perilous” as heroes do in Grail quests—confront the supernatural, the evil, and prevail (lines 386-395). Eliot suggests in line 401-410 that even a moment of surrender, that instant in which the hero enters the “Chapel Perilous,” the hero becomes a part of the myth of society, a famous archetype to uphold meaning. The hero, in essence, embodies the process of myth making, and thus endows decadent society with new hope. Engaged in the process of myth making, the writer is investing in the future of civilization, despite the attendant risks, which Eliot embodies with his allusion to Coriolanus, where a critic easily becomes a victim. The skilled hero, however, safely takes control of the situation and steers society in the right direction (lines 418-423), and thus in his efforts, inspires a new wave of generation. In this aspect, the artist dons the role of the Fisher King—his condition influences the condition of his realm, and if he generates new ideas and weaves new structures for society, then so his society must do. At the end, Eliot reinforces the advice he has just laid out for the reader, and the road to becoming a generative messiah: “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” Give, be compassionate, and take control. Create the work, suffer for it, then use it to help society, and then there will be peace—shanti, shanti, shanti—or, Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." | ||
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| + | :“The Waste Land” transcends its period and derives substance from external, other-timely sources, relating the past to the present. However, he utilizes the mythic method in such a way that creates an abstract depiction of the mentality of disarray and uncertainty in modern times. The text operates as an archive of various time periods and literary styles and fuses these fragments into an often chaotic, nonsensical mosaic of modernity. | ||
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| − | [[The Waste Land Text]] | + | ===[[The Waste Land Text]]=== |
| + | ===[[Eliot's Notes]]=== | ||
| − | + | ===Annotations=== | |
| − | [[ | + | ====[[Epigraph Annotations]]==== |
| − | + | ====[[Dedication Annotations]]==== | |
| − | + | ====I. [["The Burial of the Dead" Annotations]]==== | |
| − | + | ====II. [["A Game of Chess" Annotations]]==== | |
| − | + | ====III. [["The Fire Sermon" Annotations]]==== | |
| − | + | ====IV. [["Death by Water" Annotations]]==== | |
| − | [[ | + | ====V. [["What the Thunder Said" Annotations]]==== |
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| + | ===Allusions=== | ||
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| + | [[Biblical References]] | ||
[[Links]] | [[Links]] | ||
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| + | ==Allusions in Context== | ||
| + | This project compares the allusions found in "The Wasteland" to those found in the other pieces from ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'' where the poem was originally published. | ||
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| + | Go to [[Allusions in Context]] | ||
