Archival Evidence
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An important aspect of any literary analysis is the investigation of the context in which the text under consideration was created. In many cases, the context of a work can be extremely helpful to its understanding. This is exactly the case with T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Specifically, looking at the literary magazines ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'' in which the poem was originally published in 1922 offers the modern reader a glimpse into the mind of Eliot and his contemporary audience. This type of knowledge cannot but aid in the analysis of the poem’s content and meaning. An examination of this poem’s context as presented in ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'' yields a few interesting discoveries. Some of these include the relationship between the physical layout of the poem and its meaning, the influence of globalization at the time, and the thematic coherence within many of the works published alongside “The Waste Land.” | An important aspect of any literary analysis is the investigation of the context in which the text under consideration was created. In many cases, the context of a work can be extremely helpful to its understanding. This is exactly the case with T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” Specifically, looking at the literary magazines ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'' in which the poem was originally published in 1922 offers the modern reader a glimpse into the mind of Eliot and his contemporary audience. This type of knowledge cannot but aid in the analysis of the poem’s content and meaning. An examination of this poem’s context as presented in ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'' yields a few interesting discoveries. Some of these include the relationship between the physical layout of the poem and its meaning, the influence of globalization at the time, and the thematic coherence within many of the works published alongside “The Waste Land.” | ||
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| + | ==Publication History== | ||
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| + | ''The Waste Land'' first appeared in the October 1922 edition of British literary magazine, ''The Criterion.'' One month later, ''The Waste Land'' was published in ''The Dial,'' and American literary magazine. In both of these magazines, the poem appears nearly in full. Missing in''The Criterion'' is the epigraph and dedication to Pound. In ''The Dial'', the epigraph is present, but there is no dedication. | ||
| + | ===Epigraph=== | ||
| + | Interestingly, Eliot did not originally intend to use a quote from the ''Satyricon'' to begin ''The Waste Land''. Instead, he wanted to quote Joseph Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness''. He planned to begin ''The Waste Land'' with "The horror! the horror!" but during the editing process, Ezra Pound advised against this. In Pound's opinion, opening this great epic poem with a cry of fear would portray Eliot as weak. Pound, obsessed with masculinity, was determined that nothing should emasculate Eliot's epic (Koestenbaum). | ||
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| + | As a side note, Eliot did use a quote from ''Heart of Darkness'' in a later poem, "The Hollow Men." The epigraph to this poem reads, "Mistah Kurtz--he dead. A penny for the Old Guy." | ||
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| + | ===Dedication=== | ||
| + | Though "For Ezra Pound, ''il migilor fabbro.''" is included in all modern day publications of ''The Waste Land'', it did not actually get printed as part of the epigraph until 1925. The dedication to Pound first appears in Eliot's ''Poems 1909-1925'', though Eliot apparently hand wrote the dedication in a a copy of the Boni and Liveright edition, first published in December 1922 (Wilhelm 309). | ||
==Structure of the Poem== | ==Structure of the Poem== | ||
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Nevertheless, an analysis of both of the original publications reveals an additional layer of complexity to a scholarly investigation of Eliot's most famous poem. Despite minor inconsistencies, a more holistic understanding of Eliot's work emerges--the unifying principle enveloping "The Waste Land" is that truth, though affected by and altogether vulnerable to external circumstance or will, is canonized by its textual integrity. | Nevertheless, an analysis of both of the original publications reveals an additional layer of complexity to a scholarly investigation of Eliot's most famous poem. Despite minor inconsistencies, a more holistic understanding of Eliot's work emerges--the unifying principle enveloping "The Waste Land" is that truth, though affected by and altogether vulnerable to external circumstance or will, is canonized by its textual integrity. | ||
| − | It is important to note that Eliot was actually serving as an editor for ''The Criterion'' during the time when his poem, | + | It is important to note that Eliot was actually serving as an editor for ''The Criterion'' during the time when his poem, ''The Waste Land'' was published. Interestingly, it was in ''The Dial'' that "The Waste Land" was headlined before other literary contributions. Although the location of the poem's debut may have been more ideal in the American publication, it is worth questioning whether Eliot had more direct authority over the format of the poem as it appears in ''The Criterion''. |
Although the differences in pagination are slight, they are noteworthy, especially considering the fact that Eliot may have been directly connected to the pagination of ''The Criterion''. In particular, breaks between the stanzas in ''The Criterion'' appear more frequently than in ''The Dial''. A reading of the poem in ''The Criterion'' is markedly easier than in ''The Dial'', perhaps due to the intentional pauses incorporated multiple spaces throughout. Another difference in the format of ''The Dial'' is found where various first lines are aligned on the right side of the page. In ''The Criterion'', these lines are indented much further than normal, but they do not appear to have been structured as chaotically. Whereas the format of ''The Criterion'' seems to emphasize clarity and order, the format affixed to the poem in The Dial may indicate preconceptions on the part of the American editor concerning Eliot's style. The co-author of this page makes this hypothesis in part because the American format is reminiscent of earlier American poetry (i.e. Whitman) which utilized long lines and large stanzas. Perhaps the American editor simply produced "The Waste Land" in the way he best knew how--as a dramatic, narrative poem. | Although the differences in pagination are slight, they are noteworthy, especially considering the fact that Eliot may have been directly connected to the pagination of ''The Criterion''. In particular, breaks between the stanzas in ''The Criterion'' appear more frequently than in ''The Dial''. A reading of the poem in ''The Criterion'' is markedly easier than in ''The Dial'', perhaps due to the intentional pauses incorporated multiple spaces throughout. Another difference in the format of ''The Dial'' is found where various first lines are aligned on the right side of the page. In ''The Criterion'', these lines are indented much further than normal, but they do not appear to have been structured as chaotically. Whereas the format of ''The Criterion'' seems to emphasize clarity and order, the format affixed to the poem in The Dial may indicate preconceptions on the part of the American editor concerning Eliot's style. The co-author of this page makes this hypothesis in part because the American format is reminiscent of earlier American poetry (i.e. Whitman) which utilized long lines and large stanzas. Perhaps the American editor simply produced "The Waste Land" in the way he best knew how--as a dramatic, narrative poem. | ||
| − | + | ==Internationality== | |
| + | In both ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion'', evidence of globalization and cross-cultural receptivity abounds. This marks a fascination with the globalization that began as a result of WWI. Soldiers had traveled abroad and seen alternative forms of society function. Not only was there an increased aesthetic interest in global commodities, but these magazines indicate that there was an increased interest in intellectual diversity. For example, in ''The Dial'', there are multiple European contributors, including Austrian author, Arthur Schnitzler, whose novel ''Doctor Graesler'' was translated from German into English for this publication. Other contributors to the New York magazine were either European, or were Americans relocated to Europe. | ||
| − | == | + | ===Geographic Distribution of Contributors to the November 1922 issue of ''The Dial''=== |
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| − | + | [[File:Dial_American_pic.jpg]][[File:Dial_European_pic.jpg]] | |
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| + | ===Geographic Distribution of Contributors to the October 1922 issue of ''The Criterion''=== | ||
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| + | Though not quite as globally diverse as ''The Dial'', ''The Criterion'' has authors that span the European continent. Four authors, Saintsbury, Sinclaire, Moore, and Eliot, are British (though born in the USA, Eliot renounced his American citizenship); Hesse is German; Larbaud is French; and Dostoyevsky is Russian. | ||
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| + | [[File:Criterion_Map1.png]] | ||
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| + | ==Materiality== | ||
| + | ''The Dial'' provides contrast between advertising and texts through its use of material resources. Advertising, which - as previously mentioned - was given premium placement at the beginning and end of the book, makes use of high quality, heavy, glossy paper. In contrast, the stories and articles within ''The Dial'' is printed on matte, medium-heaviness paper. Under examination of an original copy of ''The Dial,'' the advertising was in good condition but the rest of the publication required extra care in handling (including gloves, book cradles, page-turning spatulas, and fabric-covered lead page weights). This in effect rendered the content, while still materially present, more difficult to access than the advertising, even within the same publication. ''The Criterion'' also required special handling; its matte paper had deteriorated more than ''The Dial.'' | ||
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| + | The American editor of ''The Dial'' italicized any usage of foreign language in the poem; however, ''The Criterion'' maintains a regular font for any European language utilized by Eliot. There is no explanation or admittance of these variances in the text. Additionally, within the epigraph in ''The Dial,'' the Greek quotes from the Sibyl are printed in the Greek alphabet rather than the Latin alphabet. Some modern publications, such as the one available at [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1321/1321-h/1321-h.htm Project Gutenberg,] publish the epigraph - while still in Latin and Greek languages - entirely in the Latin alphabet (i.e., "Sibylla ti theleis; respondebat illa: apothanein thelo"). In contrast, [http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html Bartleby retains the mixture of Greek and Latin alphabets]. | ||
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| + | ===Eliot's Autograph=== | ||
| + | Held within the University of Tulsa's Special Collection is a literary treasure--T.S. Eliot's own autograph, in the October 1914 Edition of ''The Criterion''. Special Collections acquired this piece from Cyril Connolly, a British critic. For more information on Connolly, follow [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Connolly this link]. | ||
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| + | [[File:Autograph.jpg]] | ||
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| + | The presence of Eliot's signature adds a great deal of interest to this copy of ''The Criterion'' (as if having an original print of ''The Waste Land'' wasn't already exciting). The knowledge that you are holding the same item held by the original author is nothing short of surreal. The signature serves as a concrete reminder that the author of this famed, canonized piece of literature was a living, breathing human. | ||
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| + | Eliot's handwritten signature also speaks to the power of originality, the quality of never having been reproduced. A million copies of Eliot's signature would never have the same value as this one original autograph. Perhaps Eliot realized this. He did, after all, cross out his typed name. | ||
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| + | ===Advertising in ''The Criterion'' and ''The Dial''=== | ||
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| + | ''The Dial's'' advertising provides contextual insight to the bibliography of ''The Waste Land's'' American debut. Instead of juxtaposing advertising alongside text, ''The Dial'' allocated primary and secondary sections--at the front and back of the periodical respectively--for commercial bulletins. In the first section of advertisements that precedes the literary text, the editor installed ads for literary publishers of modernist books, memoirs, and a magazine. This indicates that ''The Dial'' targeted a bibliophile audience through a variety of advertised texts, such as ''Steel: The Diary of A Furnace Worker'' and an encyclopedia of college courses (''The Dial'' I-XVI). | ||
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| + | ''The Dial'''s advertisements reveal multicultural intrigue through a great deal of upper-class marketing in the supplementary section of advertisements. Solicitors invite attention to Oriental rug wholesalers, Steinway pianos, jewelry dealers, Russian tea rooms, Spanish themed vacations, patronage to The Plaza hotel in New York and Boston, and to purchase multi-volume literary collections from such venerated authors as Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad (''The Dial'' XVI-XXXII). Though the advertisements do suggest a post-war fascination with the exotic, they also indicate intellectual and societal elitism. | ||
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| + | It is interesting to note that ''The Criterion'' contains no advertising. This foil to ''The Dial'' casts the British publication in a more dignified position. Even with the American publication's high-class features, it still contained advertising. Additionally, ''The Dial'' bestowed prizes; Eliot won their annual award in 1922, the year ''The Waste Land'' was published. These differences implicate that, while both magazines in which ''The Waste Land'' debuted were high class, ''The Criterion'' was the higher art publication of the two. | ||
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| + | ===''St. Severin'' Painting and Orphism=== | ||
| + | Debuting as the first substantive literary text in the November 1922 issue of ''The Dial,'' ''The Waste Land'' is presented beginning on the right-hand page, directly across from a disorienting and somewhat abstract painting of St. Severin's Cathedral in Paris, France (Delaunay 472). Painted by Robert Delaunay, a French Cubist and pioneer of the "Orphism" style, the selection by editors to include his art within ''The Dial'' is in keeping with the culture of curiosity demonstrated by the New York readership. Delaunay's modern-gothic painting represents a sense of disjointedness present in post-WWI Europe through his fragmented and sharply disjointed painting of the ambulatory of St. Severin. This fragmentation is echoed in the page opposite Delaunay's painting, wherein lies Eliot's ''The Waste Land.'' The call to national identity in addition to a sense of brokenness within society draws parallels from the painting to the poem. | ||
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| + | Delaunay's painting was over ten years old at the publication of ''The Dial'', having been first completed in 1909. Delaunay was drawn to light and open spaces in his artwork; he uses lighting within the cathedral's ambulatory to create a sense of disjointedness; emphasis on sensory experiences in order to create a sensation of space and warped perspective. Delaunay described this painting as marking “a period of transition from Cézanne to Cubism”; his main influence moving from that of Cézanne’s style to that of cubists such as Georges Braques. | ||
| + | Delaunay’s paintings very heavily tied in with French identity | ||
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| + | Within the painting, which was already [http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/1017 more than ten years old] at the publishing of ''The Waste Land'' in ''The Dial,'' the church's walls and floor twist and turn in a cubist-based depiction. This fractured portrayal of a sacred space calls to mind lines 20-21 of ''The Waste Land'' - "you know only a heap of broken images" - which itself was an allusion to the biblical book Ezekiel (specifically [http://usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/6/6 chapter 6]). | ||
==Thematic Coherence== | ==Thematic Coherence== | ||
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| + | A few of the major themes of ''The Waste Land'' include World War I, fertility and sterility, a lack of trust in authority, and the crumbling of Western culture. However, it is clear from the thematic overlap in the rest of the magazines’ content that Eliot was not the only writer interested in these topics. These themes, linked by their importance in modernist circles, all make appearances in ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion''. | ||
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| + | ===World War I=== | ||
| + | Unsurprisingly, WWI is a major theme in both ''The Dial'' and ''The Criterion''. Though the War had been over for four years by 1922, the world, especially Europe, was still in shock from the atrocities it had witnessed between 1914 and 1918. | ||
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| + | ''The Criterion'' touches on WWI in a variety of its pieces. For example, Herman Hesse discusses the War in "Recent German Poetry," citing it as one of the main reasons that the youth of Germany are behaving and writing in such a juvenile manner. Because of the War, he believes that "Europe is seen by the youth of to-day as a very sick neurotic, who can be helped only by shattering the self-created complexes in which he is suffering" (90-91). | ||
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| + | ===Sexuality and Fertility=== | ||
In ''The Dial'', there is an installment of the novel ''Doctor Graesler'' by Arthur Schnitzler, in which much of the conflict is driven by sexual jealousy and the fear of adultery. Likewise, in ''The Criterion'', part of May Sinclair’s "The Victim" is included. In this story, which is set during the War, the main character, Steven, is in love with a woman whom his master persuades to leave forever. Because of this, Steven is ultimately driven to murder his master. The men in these stories are left alone by women, or in other words, they are left sterile, because they no longer have a partner to allow for the manifestation of their potential fertility, so they act out on this feeing of abandoment. This resonates with the pub scene of “The Waste Land” (lines 140-172) when the speaker indicates that she took the pleasure of Lil’s husband’s sexuality since Lil had rejected her own fertility with an attempted abortion of his child. “What you get married for if you don’t want children?” must have been on the minds of many who felt the loss of a considerable portion of men at the reproductive stage of life from their society (Eliot 164). Still, it is interesting that Schnitzler and Sinclair present men rather than women as their forcedly sterile characters. | In ''The Dial'', there is an installment of the novel ''Doctor Graesler'' by Arthur Schnitzler, in which much of the conflict is driven by sexual jealousy and the fear of adultery. Likewise, in ''The Criterion'', part of May Sinclair’s "The Victim" is included. In this story, which is set during the War, the main character, Steven, is in love with a woman whom his master persuades to leave forever. Because of this, Steven is ultimately driven to murder his master. The men in these stories are left alone by women, or in other words, they are left sterile, because they no longer have a partner to allow for the manifestation of their potential fertility, so they act out on this feeing of abandoment. This resonates with the pub scene of “The Waste Land” (lines 140-172) when the speaker indicates that she took the pleasure of Lil’s husband’s sexuality since Lil had rejected her own fertility with an attempted abortion of his child. “What you get married for if you don’t want children?” must have been on the minds of many who felt the loss of a considerable portion of men at the reproductive stage of life from their society (Eliot 164). Still, it is interesting that Schnitzler and Sinclair present men rather than women as their forcedly sterile characters. | ||
T. Sturge Moore, who wrote an essay about “The Story of Tristram and Isolt in Modern Poetry” for the same edition of ''The Criterion'', brings some middle ground to this question. He acknowledges that Tristram’s and Isolt’s situation “forced illegal passion on” both of them (Moore 35). That is to say, both sexes suffer when they are deprived of an outlet for their passions. Still he asks, “Is adultery ever to be condoned?” (Moore 35). The tension Moore recognizes between people’s need to be fertile and the question of its inherent “rightness” is relevant to what Eliot is exploring in “The Waste Land.” Humanity’s distrust in or even “divorce” from nature and natural law that Eliot depicts as a result of the war must include a questioning of the previously accepted paradigm of right and wrong. One image from “The Waste Land”—“a heap of broken images” (Eliot 22)—can be applied as a description to what the poem itself is, what society looks like after the war, and what people’s current perception of the former order is. | T. Sturge Moore, who wrote an essay about “The Story of Tristram and Isolt in Modern Poetry” for the same edition of ''The Criterion'', brings some middle ground to this question. He acknowledges that Tristram’s and Isolt’s situation “forced illegal passion on” both of them (Moore 35). That is to say, both sexes suffer when they are deprived of an outlet for their passions. Still he asks, “Is adultery ever to be condoned?” (Moore 35). The tension Moore recognizes between people’s need to be fertile and the question of its inherent “rightness” is relevant to what Eliot is exploring in “The Waste Land.” Humanity’s distrust in or even “divorce” from nature and natural law that Eliot depicts as a result of the war must include a questioning of the previously accepted paradigm of right and wrong. One image from “The Waste Land”—“a heap of broken images” (Eliot 22)—can be applied as a description to what the poem itself is, what society looks like after the war, and what people’s current perception of the former order is. | ||
| − | + | ===Overlapping Themes=== | |
| − | + | Though is is possible to view each of these themes separately, it is very easy to see how they all tie together. Turning again to "Recent German Poetry," Hesse eloquently sums up the connection of these themes in the post-war environment. He explains that the experience of the Great War entailed “the collapse of all the old forms and the breakdown of moral codes and cultures hitherto valid” (Hesse 90). Because of this, the new generation must create its own “codes” that will work differently since something as awful as a World War is a conceivable reality. He goes on to enumerate “the two central interests of youth”: “rebellion against authority and against the culture of that authority in process of downfall; and eroticism” (Hesse 90). Hesse, too, sees a relationship between fertility issues, distrust in society/authority, and the War. From all the thematic overlap in these two magazines with the content of “The Waste Land,” it only makes sense to admit that Eliot’s poem is not a thing to be read in isolation from its context. Since the other literary pieces treat some of the same subjects, it is fair to assume that those subjects were primary concerns of the scholarly class in both America and Europe. Familiarizing oneself with these contextual similarities allows a reader of “The Waste Land” to focus in on what would have been most important to Eliot’s contemporary audience, and perhaps to understand more successfully what meaning Eliot wants to transmit through the poem. | |
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==Additional Areas of Interest for Further Investigation== | ==Additional Areas of Interest for Further Investigation== | ||
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==Works Cited== | ==Works Cited== | ||
| − | Dehn, | + | Dehn, Adolph. "Drinkers." ''The Dial'' Nov. 1922: 548-549. Print. |
''The Dial''. Advertisements. Nov 1922: I-XXXIII. Print. | ''The Dial''. Advertisements. Nov 1922: I-XXXIII. Print. | ||
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Hesse, Hermann. "Recent German Poetry." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 89-93. Print. | Hesse, Hermann. "Recent German Poetry." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 89-93. Print. | ||
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| + | Koestenbaum, Wayne. Double Talk: The Erotics of Male Literary Collaboration. New York: Routledge, 1989. N. pag. On the Composition of The Wast Land. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Web. 16 Sept. 2014. | ||
Larbaud, Valery. "The 'Ulysses' of James Joyce." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 94-103. Print. | Larbaud, Valery. "The 'Ulysses' of James Joyce." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 94-103. Print. | ||
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Sinclair, May. "The Victim." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 65-88. Print. | Sinclair, May. "The Victim." ''The Criterion'' Oct. 1922: 65-88. Print. | ||
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| + | Wilhelm, James J. ''Ezra Pound in London and Paris: 1908-1925.'' University Park U.a.: Pennsylvania State U, 1990. Print. | ||
