Archival Evidence
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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. | ''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=== | ===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). | + | 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." | ||
===Dedication=== | ===Dedication=== | ||
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==Thematic Coherence== | ==Thematic Coherence== | ||
| + | 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''. | ||
| − | + | ===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). | ||
===Sexuality and Fertility=== | ===Sexuality and Fertility=== | ||
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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. | ||
