Decoding "The Burial of the Dead"
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(→Decoding "The Burial of the Dead": Understanding Eliot's WWI Crisis of Faith) |
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=Decoding "The Burial of the Dead": Understanding Eliot's WWI Crisis of Faith= | =Decoding "The Burial of the Dead": Understanding Eliot's WWI Crisis of Faith= | ||
| − | + | The Anglican burial service, "[[The Order for the Burial of the Dead]]" in its scriptural variations, saw a lot of use after the massive death toll of WWI, and the decimation of nearly an entire generation of England's young men. Eliot, who had tried to join the U.S. Navy upon the outbreak of the Great War, was rejected for physical reasons. He moved to England, where the toll was heavier and the men more likely to die, and witnessed the decimation of fighting men, watching and waiting from the sidelines. His feelings of impotence, his guilt, his anger, and the other personal anxieties resultant from his married life create the feelings of disillusionment and bitterness in "The Waste Land," and even a crisis of faith. | |
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='''Figure 1: Eliot's Prophetic Terms from "The Burial of the Dead" -vs- "Order for the Burial of the Dead"'''= | ='''Figure 1: Eliot's Prophetic Terms from "The Burial of the Dead" -vs- "Order for the Burial of the Dead"'''= | ||
