Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions
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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 (authenticity or originality?) for a wish, she wishes for a longevity matching the number of grains of sand one can hold in your hand. Like sand in an hour glass, 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. | 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 (authenticity or originality?) for a wish, she wishes for a longevity matching the number of grains of sand one can hold in your hand. Like sand in an hour glass, 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. | ||
| − | The section [["A Game of Chess" Annotations|A Game of Chess]] can be seen as a commentary on the inevitable downfall of man. | + | The section [["A Game of Chess" Annotations|A Game of Chess]] can be seen as a commentary on the inevitable downfall of man. His allusion to ‘’Paradise Lost’’ reflects this downfall of distinguished religious figures to the downfall of humanity. It is a commentary on the scene where Satan first views Eden. Satan is the cause of Eden falling, the paradise for humankind. This can be found in lines 97 and down. The war was a tragedy. |
Furthering the downfall of man are the mythologies of the Aeneid, Cleopatra and Antony, and Philomel. Each story ends in tragedy of man and woman’s downfall from their former selves. 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 toward a being, showing the end of themselves in the poem. At the same time it’s 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. | Furthering the downfall of man are the mythologies of the Aeneid, Cleopatra and Antony, and Philomel. Each story ends in tragedy of man and woman’s downfall from their former selves. 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 toward a being, showing the end of themselves in the poem. At the same time it’s 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. | ||
| − | A Game of Chess concludes with a conversation regarding the female narrator’s duty to make a good appearance for her returning (husband/lover), fearing that her man will be lost. This depiction of a modern household reveals how people have succumbed to their own darkness while WW1 (Isn’t this written | + | A Game of Chess concludes with a conversation regarding the female narrator’s duty to make a good appearance for her returning (husband/lover), fearing that her man will be lost. This depiction of a modern household reveals how people have succumbed to their own darkness while WW1 (Isn’t this written ‘’after’’ WWI?) begins to cover the world. Showing that man even outside of the war is not outside of the downfall that war brings. Humanity in general began to crumble as WW1 came around, and so A Game of Chess reflects that through the literature Europeans are most familiar with. |
Eliot taps into Buddhist teachings to relate the fire sermon to the modern state of despair. The title of section three, “[[“The Fire Sermon” Annotations|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 text, blanketing every scene and narrative shift. | Eliot taps into Buddhist teachings to relate the fire sermon to the modern state of despair. The title of section three, “[[“The Fire Sermon” Annotations|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 text, blanketing every scene and narrative shift. | ||
| − | The incorporation of Buddha’s sermon has a plethora of interpretations, however. The implication of relevancy to historical philosophies is present, to be sure, but the text virtually inverts and invalidates Buddhist thought. While the sermon was a more positive outlook of freedom from worldly emotions, Eliot adopts a negative lens through which he views modern London. Burning, and begging for God to “pluck” him out, one of the narrators within the text associates the modern feeling of hopelessness and agony, emotions blazing powerfully as the aftermath of the war, to the sermon. | + | The incorporation of Buddha’s sermon has a plethora of interpretations, however. The implication of relevancy to historical philosophies is present, to be sure, but the text virtually inverts and invalidates Buddhist thought. While the sermon was a more positive outlook of freedom from worldly emotions, Eliot adopts a negative lens through which he views modern London. Burning, and begging for God to “pluck” him out, one of the narrators within the text associates the modern feeling of hopelessness and agony, emotions blazing powerfully as the aftermath of the war, to the sermon. |
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==THE WASTE LAND== | ==THE WASTE LAND== | ||
