Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions

The mythic method, a term coined by Eliot, emphasizes myths and archetypes to portray an accurate image of modernity. Such archetypes within [[The Waste Land Text|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.

The [[Dedication Annotations|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 Annotations|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 heresay—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 showcasing 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.  

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.

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 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.

Moving forward, the section [["A Game of Chess" Annotations|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.  

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" 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 third section, blanketing every scene and narrative shift.

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.

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.

“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.