Allusions in Context

Really, the concept of allusion surrounds “The Wasteland” in surprising ways. For example, in The Dial, there is paged entitled “Notes on the Contributors.” The magazine’s publishers find it relevant to allude to the previous work and the outside life of the authors and artists whose work is found in the magazine. The motivation behind including the page is clear: it is to give credibility to their contributors so that readers will take the magazine and its contents seriously. Interestingly, this is similar to what Eliot did in “The Wasteland”: by alluding to previously accepted works of literature, he gives his poem validity; by alluding to familiar issues, he gives his poem relatability. Apparently this is a concern of both author and publisher. perhaps it may even be generalized to all people in the postwar environment, as they asked themselves questions like, Was the war worth it? Is what I do worthwhile? People long for validation.

Further on the idea of validation, one way to measure the validity of a work would be to become the object of allusion oneself. On some of the pages with advertisements, The Dial includes the following request: “When writing to advertisers please mention the Dial.” When a reader mentions (alludes to) the Dial, the advertiser knows his ad in that publication was profitable (worthwhile), so they renew the advertisement, which shows the magazine that readers are responding to what they’ve published. Both sides make sales: both sides are validated. Allusion has the potential to be a rather powerful force.

In the networks included on this page, the points on the graph, or nodes, are organized based on the “thing referred to.” For example, in The Player Queen by W.B. Yeats, found in The Dial, one character mentions that “my saviour was content with a stable,” which alludes to the birth of Jesus, so the allusion appears as a node called “Nativity.” From the alluded-to nodes come a variety of lines, or edges, that connect them to nodes with information about their Location (what piece from the magazine they come from, or what section of “The Wasteland” they come from), their Source (Dial, Criterion, or “Wasteland”), and what type of allusion it is (place, religion, literature, etc.). By moving the nodes around to see where their connecting edges are pulled, patterns start to emerge.

Let’s begin by looking at “The Wasteland” by itself. Network A is a network of the allusions from the poem (See [Shoring Up Fragments]), with the allusions nodes clustered in the middle, the sections of the poem along the bottom, and the types of allusions at the top. Clearly, some types of allusions are far less frequent in the poem than others. For instance, Jews and Gentiles are the only allusions associated with the category “group” [of people]. However, there are clearly a lot more references in the poem to places, religion, and literature. Place includes landmarks, cities, and countries; religion includes references to Christianity, Greek mythology, Buddhism, and mysticism; literature includes poetry and prose from contemporary authors and some from the past. Apparently, these are the traditions that Eliot most heavily relies on to aid his readers in the understanding of his poem.

''Network C: Allusions in other pieces from The Criterion and The Dial from October/November 1922''

Moving forward, Network C shows what the allusions from the content in the rest of The Criterion and The Dial look like. It is laid out similarly to Network A: the types of allusions are spread across the top of the image, with the two magazines’ names at the bottom, and the names of the pieces within the magazines on the right side of the image. As in “The Wasteland,” religion is one of the most common categories of allusions in the two magazines. Network D exhibits the relationship between the different types of religious allusions from all three sources.

''Network D: Religion in The Criterion, The Dial, and “The Wasteland”''

This network clearly shows that pieces in The Dial bring Egyptian mythology and more Greek mythology, on top of Christianity, to the picture, but The Criterion only contributes Christian allusions. It follows that mysticism and Buddhism are referred to exclusively in “The Wasteland.” Out of all the authors contributing to both magazines, Eliot must intend to stretch his readers’ minds the most, which he does by subtly forcing them to think about a wider variety of religions—just by mentioning and alluding to them—than his contemporary contributors do. This is also a comment on the universality of the point Eliot means to make. The First World War was a universal event, and everyone, from all backgrounds including religious traditions, suffered from it. By alluding to an array of religions, Eliot is able to catalogue this universal event in a universal way. His method complements his intention.

''Network E: Allusions in The Criterion, The Dial, and “The Wasteland”''

Network E is a conglomeration of Networks A and C. Although this network looks overwhelming because of how large it is, it should be manageable based on prior exposure to the other networks. In this one, the pieces from the magazines are lined up at the top, the sections of the poem are listed down the right side, the names of the sources are on the left side, and the categories of allusions are along the bottom of the image. The cluster of things referred to in the middle is organized only so far as necessary to make the nodes mostly legible. My intent with this graph is mainly to show the potential a network graph has for making a large amount of information—135 rows by four columns of input in Excel—visible quickly. Indeed, this network is much less cumbersome than my pages of notes from which I extracted the node names and relationships. It sums up the premise of this project concisely: the way allusions are used in “The Wasteland” and the other pieces that were published alongside it in The Dial and The Criterion in 1922 are related in a significant way, and technology like Gephi can help make it possible to literally see where the connections are.